With  the  (JTiimplittmtis  of  the  jfninty 
the 


THE   OLD    GUARD 


AND 


OTHER    ADDRESSES 


BY 


MYER  S.  ISAACS 


(Privately  Printed) 


NEW  YORK 

Che  fjntcfeerbocfcer  press 
1906 


StacK 
Annex 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR                               i 

II.  THE  OLD  GUARD       ....     13 

III.  SIDONIA 39 

IV.  LOYALTY 62 

V.  AN  ANCIENT  GRUDGE        .        .        .76 

VI.  MONTEFIORE,    THE    IDEAL    JEW    .             -125 

VII.  THE  PEOPLE  AND  THE  SYNAGOGUE  .  140 

VIII.  BARON  DE  HIRSCH    .        .        .        .168 

IX.  JEWISH  FARMERS        .        .        .        .  176 

X.  A  WELCOME  TO  M.  LEROY  BEAULIEU  .  184 

XI.  THOUGHTS  FOR  THE  TIME          .        .  190 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR 

To  give  color  to  the  withered  rose,  or 
fragrance  to  the  violet  whose  petals  have 
one  by  one  been  torn  apart  and  scattered,  is 
as  little  possible  as  to  recall  in  its  com- 
pleteness a  vanished  life,  and  bid  memory 
rebuild  and  restore  the  form,  voice,  mind, 
character,  of  the  one  who  has  passed  away. 
The  fragment  alone  survives — and,  how- 
ever much  we  summon  remembrance 
to  our  aid,  it  remains  a  fragment — scat- 
tered petals  no  more  on  earth  to  form  a 
rose. 

Yet  the  life  of  Myer  S.  Isaacs  had  so 
much  in  it  of  strength  and  inspiration,  such 
helpfulness,  resourcefulness,  unselfish  de- 
votion, joined  with  faithful  performance 
of  duty  and  trustful  confidence  in  his 
Maker,  qualities  which  aroused  the  esteem 
and  affection  of  his  friends  and  associ- 
ates, that  it  seems  eminently  fitting  to  pre- 
face this  volume  with  a  brief  sketch  of  his 
life  and  activities.  And  if  from  the  few 


2  Memoir 

immortelles  here  gathered,  his  friends  and 
those  who  loved  him  can  construct  a  wreath 
of  their  own  in  his  memory,  something 
will  have  been  done  to  preserve  in  loving 
remembrance  his  character  and  services. 

He  was  born  in  Elm  Street,  New  York, 
on  May  8,  1841.  Two  years  earlier  his 
father  had  been  called  to  minister  to  the 
then  Elm  Street  Synagogue,  and  thus  in 
close  proximity  to  the  house  of  God  began 
his  education.  It  was  a  modest,  reverent 
home  in  which  he  was  reared — the  eldest 
son  receiving  the  fullest  measure  of  pa- 
rental guidance.  His  useful  life,  his  ster- 
ling character,  his  chivalrous  devotion  to 
Israel,  were  the  fruits  of  that  training. 
His  studious  ways  and  love  of  learning 
made  the  task  of  acquisition  easy.  At 
school  he  was  a  lad  who  was  equally  bril- 
liant in  every  line,  and  at  the  New  York 
University,  which  he  entered  in  1855,  he 
maintained  his  standard  of  excellence, 
graduating  as  valedictorian,  and  securing 
a  similar  honor  in  1861,  when  he  graduated 
from  the  Law  School. 

During  his  college  days,  there  appeared, 


Memoir  3 

at  first  largely  to  interest  a  number 
of  young  collegians  and  school  friends, 
The  Jewish  Messenger.  But  his  father 
soon  saw  the  possibilities  of  such  an  organ 
and  gave  it  quickly  a  more  serious  char- 
acter, not  only  to  vindicate  Judaism  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  but  to  spread  reverence 
and  refinement  in  Jewish  homes.  In  its 
management  his  eldest  son  took  an  active 
part,  and  for  many  years  assumed  a  large 
share  in  its  supervision.  It  was  not  before 
1872  that  he  retired  from  active  control, 
although  contributing  from  time  to  time 
in  later  years.  His  work  included  not 
only  essays  and  criticism,  thoughtful  and 
good-natured  comment  on  social  and  po- 
litical topics,  inspiring  appeals  for  Jewish 
organization  in  literature  and  life,  but 
there  were  outlined  plans  and  suggestions 
many  of  which  were  to  be  adopted  in 
movements  and  institutions  that  survive 
the  test  of  practical  experience.  Thus  as  a 
mere  youth  and  in  his  early  manhood  he 
had  the  genius  to  foresee  and  the  happiness 
to  help  in  realizing  his  ideals  in  educating 
the  immigrant  and  developing  American 
Israel  along  the  lines  of  the  best  American 


4  Memoir 

denominations  without  the  sacrifice  of  re- 
ligious convictions. 

In  his  professional  career  he  early  ex- 
hibited thoroughness  and  industry,  which 
soon  secured  him  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  an  ever-widening  clientele,  and  he 
attained  very  rapidly  prominence  in  varied 
lines  of  practice.     After  a  year's  study  in 
the  office  of  J.    H.  &  S.   Riker  — noted 
lawyers  of  that  day — he   established  his 
own  office,  and  in  1866  associated  himself 
first  with  his  friend  Adolph   L.   Sanger, 
whose  death  in  1894  is  still  deplored,  and 
in  1870  with  his  brother  Isaac.     In  later 
years  two  of  his  sons,  J'ulien  and   Lewis, 
were  added  to  the   firm,   the   former  to 
enter  upon  a  career  of  unusual  brilliancy, 
which  was  only  too  early  terminated.     In 
his  law  office  he  was  active  until  the  last 
— in  fact  an  hour  before  his  death  he  was 
consulting  with  clients  and  dictating  cor- 
respondence.    The  legal  activity  that  he 
possessed  was  to  be  discerned  at  its  righ  t 
value.     From  1887  to  l897  ne  lectured  on 
real  estate  law  before  the  Law  School  of 
the  New  York  University,    and   gave   a 
course  subsequently   at    Cornell   Univer- 


Memoir  5 

sity.  From  the  organization  of  the  Law- 
yers' Title  Insurance  Co.  in  1887,  he  was 
one  of  the  Special  Committee  of  Counsel, 
where  his  services  met  with  recognition 
and  appreciation.  As  this  is  expressed  in 
the  memorial  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
Committee  of  Counsel  and  the  Officers  of 
the  Company : 

"Judge  Isaacs  was  a  member  of  this 
Committee  from  the  time  of  its  creation. 
In  our  early  days  we  were  very  frequently 
called  together,  and  a  great  number  and 
variety  of  questions  were  submitted  to  us. 
We  had  not  then  the  advantages  of  pre- 
cedents and  organization  which  we  now 
enjoy,  and  our  labors  were  difficult  and 
onerous.  That  these  labors  were  not 
altogether  in  vain,  the  reputation  which 
this  Committee  now  has,  and  the  confi- 
dence of  the  lawyers  in  this  city  which 
it  now  possesses,  would  seem  to  imply. 
But,  if  such  a  result  has  been  accom- 
plished, no  member  of  the  Commission 
has  wrought  his  share  of  the  accomplish- 
ment more  fully  than  Judge  Isaacs. 

"  He  attended  almost  every  meeting  to 
which  he  was  called,  and  contributed  to 


6  Memoir 

the  determination  of  every  question  sub- 
mitted all  the  aid  which  an  experience  so 
wide  that  its  limits  were  rarely  attained, 
and  a  legal  knowledge  which  seldom  was 
incapable  of  giving  light  to  those  of  us 
who  had  been  in  darkness,  could  impart." 

For  more  than  thirty  years  a  member 
of  the  Bar  Association  and  for  a  time  one 
of  its  Executive  Committee,  as  well  as  a 
member  of  the  State  Bar  and  the  Amer- 
ican Bar  Associations,  he  was  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  New  York  Real  Estate 
Exchange  for  1886  to  1890,  while  he  was 
for  many  years  prominently  identified 
with  the  Republican  and  City  Clubs. 

He  gave  much  attention  to  remedial 
and  reform  legislation,  and  many  im- 
portant measures  concerning  real  estate 
and  other  legal  matters  were  placed  upon 
the  statutes  largely  through  his  efforts. 
In  1873  he  participated  in  the  work  of  the 
Municipal  Society  which  did  so  much  to 
improve  the  city  in  the  years  that  fol- 
lowed ring  misrule.  In  1884  he  was  one 
of  the  "  Committee  of  Fifty-three  "  to  pro- 
pose reform  legislation,  and  as  one  of  the 
committee  on  the  establishment  of  small 


Memoir  7 

parks  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  secur- 
ing the  opening  of  Seward  Park,  adjoin- 
ing the  Educational  Alliance.  As  early 
as  1880  he  was  appointed  to  fill  a  vacancy 
in  the  Marine,  now  City  Court,  and  he 
was  that  year  the  Republican  candi- 
date for  election  to  the  full  judicial  term. 
In  1890  he  was  the  Republican  candidate 
for  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  and  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  1895.  In  these 
contests,  while  his  party  was  unsuccessful, 
his  vote  was  largely  ahead  of  that  of  his 
associates,  thus  indicating  the  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  the  community. 

Despite  the  claims  of  professional  life 
with  its  constantly  increasing  demands 
upon  his  time  and  thought,  Myer  S.  Isaacs 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  career 
was  identified  with  American  Judaism  and 
the  welfare  of  his  brethren.  As  secretary 
of  the  Congregation  Shaaray  Tefila  from 
1857  to  1869,  as  its  representative  in  the 
Board  of  Delegates  of  American  Israelites, 
whose  secretary  he  was  for  seven  years, 
and  its  president  until  its  absorption  in 
1880  by  the  Union  of  American  Hebrew 
Congregations,  he  saw  years  of  intelligent 


8  Memoir 

pioneer  service,  lost  no  opportunity  to 
enforce  the  Jew's  claims  for  civil  and  re- 
ligious rights  and  to  vindicate  his  religion 
from  misconception  and  reproach.  He 
early  showed  his  zeal  in  this  direction 
when  he  protested  in  1861  against  Gen- 
eral B.  F.  Butler's  censure  of  the  Jews, 
and  he  established  so  clearly  the  injustice 
of  the  General's  position  that  he  wrested 
from  his  opponent  a  frank  apology.  It 
was  not  undue  sensitiveness  that  made 
him  so  prompt  and  resolute  in  protest 
against  abuse  or  unfair  prejudice — it  was 
his  intense  enthusiasm  for  his  religion 
which  impelled  his  attitude.  In  the  main 
work  of  organization  and  arrangement  at 
the  two  great  public  meetings  in  1882 
at  Chickering  Hall  and  in  1903  at  Car- 
negie Hall,  to  condemn  Russian  persecu- 
tion, he  was  prominent  —  his  executive 
ability  could  not  have  been  more  happily 
displayed. 

New  York  Israel  found  him  its  spokes- 
man and  organizer  on  many  occasions. 
In  the  development  of  the  Hebrew  Free 
School  Association,  he  was  particularly 
active,  being  its'  secretary  in  1864  and  its 


Memoir  9 

president  from  1880  until  1891.  In  1873 
he  initiated  the  movement  for  a  union  of 
relief  societies,  and  prepared  the  plan  of 
federation  which  led  to  the  establishment 
of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities.  But  his 
foresight  and  wise  counsel,  his  zeal  and 
energy,  were  seen  at  their  best  when,  after 
his  experience  in  1882  as  one  of  the  local 
committee  to  aid  the  refugees  from  Russia, 
he  became  in  1891  President  of  the  Baron 
de  Hirsch  Fund.  This  position  was  to 
engage  most  of  his  leisure  from  that  year 
to  his  death.  His  last  visit  to  Woodbine 
was  made  a  few  days  before  the  end,  and 
he  was  cheered  to  note  encouraging  con- 
ditions, which  assured  him  and  his  associ- 
ates that  their  labor  and  counsel  were 
not  in  vain. 

In  the  erection  of  the  Hebrew  Institute, 
now  the  Educational  Alliance,  he  took  a 
prominent  part.  He  foresaw  its  importance 
as  an  uplifting  agency  for  the  immigrant 
classes  and  as  a  special  centre  for  the 
lower  East  Side.  No  less  actively  as  one 
of  its  founders  did  he  aid  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Hebrew  Technical  Institute, 
which  was  established  after  the  Hebrew 


io  Memoir 

Free  School  showed  the  way  with  its 
modest  beginning  of  technical  work.  He 
was  also  among  the  projectors  and  first 
managers  of  the  Montefiore  Home  for 
Chronic  Invalids.  He  was  one  of  the  or- 
ganizers and  for  some  years  president  of 
the  Purim  Association,  which  for  decades 
was  noted  for  its  annual  celebration  of 
Purim,  and  which  represented  so  worthily 
the  social  side  of  New  York  Israel.  And 
other  movements  in  which  he  was  inter- 
ested could  readily  be  mentioned. 

His  home  life — so  pure  and  helpful — 
was  never  neglected  by  devotion  to  profes- 
sional or  communal  interests — it  formed, 
in  fact,  the  secret  of  his  strength,  with  its 
restful,  affectionate  atmosphere.  Married 
on  February  io,  1869,  to  Maria,  a  daughter 
of  Barnet  L.  Solomon,  an  estimable  and 
public-spirited  New  Yorker  in  his  day,  his 
wedded  happiness  knew  no  shadow,  save 
when  his  eldest  daughter,  Grace  Aguilar, 
a  child  of  rare  promise,  died  in  her  tenth 
year,  and  when  his  wife,  so  tender  and 
loving,  passed  away  in  1889,  leaving  six 
children  to  brighten  the  household  and 
emulate  their  mother's  character.  It 


Memoir  1 1 

must  have  been  a  source  of  intense  joy  and 
pride  to  witness  the  growth  of  sons  and 
daughters  whose  kindly  counsellor  and  un- 
selfish companion  he  never  failed  to  be, 
and  to  recognize  in  each  the  fruit  of  pa- 
rental labor  and  encouragement. 

It  was  on  May  24,  1904,  just  as  he 
was  returning  home  on  a  summer  after- 
noon, that  the  summons  came,  and  his 
loving  heart,  so  full  of  thought  and  affec- 
tion for  others,  was  stilled.  About  a  year 
previously  he  had  sustained  a  severe  attack 
of  illness  due  to  acute  indigestion,  but  had 
apparently  regained  his  health.  He  re- 
sumed his  work  in  its  varied  lines,  allowing 
himself,  however,  more  leisure.  A  little 
more  than  a  week  before  the  end  he  had 
delivered  an  address  in  his  happiest  vein 
at  the  reception  to  M.  Leroy  Beaulieu,  and 
had  visited  the  Woodbine  settlement.  In 
the  morning  cheerful  at  his  work — in  the 
afternoon  the  end  for  which  he  was  amply 
prepared,  being  long  conscious  that  God 
might  call  him  at  any  moment.  He 
had  set  his  house  in  order — his  life-work 
had  not  been  in  vain. 

The   addresses   and  essays  which    are 


12  Memoir 

included  in  the  present  volume,  while  they 
represent  only  a  small  portion  of  his  ac- 
tivity on  the  platform,  are  characteristic  of 
his  matured  opinions  on  subjects  of  vital 
interest  to  Judaism.  In  their  present 
form,  it  is  hoped  that  they  will  be  res- 
cued from  forgetfulness,  and  be  treasured 
as  a  precious  memorial  of  a  life  dedi- 
cated to  high  aims,  fragrant  with  loving 
service,  and  crowned  deservedly  with 
God's  blessing. 

A.  S.  I. 


THE  OLD  GUARD1 

AMONG  the  episodes  of  modern  history 
which  excite  marvellous  interest,  do  honor 
to  humanity,  and  recall  the  chivalrous 
deeds  of  all  ages,  is  the  story  of  Napo- 
leon's "  Old  Guard." 

Who  has  not  followed  with  eager  in- 
terest the  gray-coated  figure  of  the  "man 
of  destiny  "  as  he  reviews  his  favorite  bat- 
talion and  his  eye  lights  upon  a  veteran 
who  has  done  valiant  service  at  a  fa- 
mous victory  !  "  Bertrand  !  You  fought 
at  Lodi — when  the  eagle  was  nearly  cap- 
tured by  the  enemy,  you  rescued  it  —  your 
heroism  saved  the  day  —  embrace  me. 
Take  this  'star'  —  your  Emperor  has 
worn  it."  The  field  rings  with  shouts 
— another  of  the  Old  Guard  is  rewarded 
— all  France  shares  in  his  joy. 

Theirs  was  a  glorious  motto — "  The 
Old  Guard  dies — it  never  surrenders." 

In  ancient  Sparta,  a  heroic  achievement 

1  Delivered  before  the  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Association 
of  New  York,  February,  1891. 
13 


14  The  Old  Guard 

of  which  that  brave  nation  was  justly 
proud,  was  the  defence  of  Thermopylae. 
The  extraordinary  devotion  of  Leonidas 
and  his  band  saved  the  state.  The  mon- 
ument which  ancient  and  modern  peoples 
have  regarded  with  respect,  standing  far 
above  the  arches  and  obelisks  reared  by 
conquerors  and  tyrants  to  signalize  their 
victories  over  crushed  nationalities — is 
simply  inscribed:  "  Go,  stranger,  tell  it  at 
Lacedsemon,  that  we  lie  here,  obedient  to 
her  laws ! " 

What  matters  it  that  Sparta  has  van- 
ished from  the  roll  of  nations — Leonidas 
lives  forever ! 

Was  the  Emperor  Napoleon  vanquished 
at  Waterloo  ?  The  Old  Guard  is  im- 
mortal in  its  undying  devotion  to  country. 

When  we  survey  this  beautiful  city 
and  reflect  that  among  three  millions  of 
inhabitants  are  upwards  of  three  hundred 
thousand  Jews — we  look  about  us  inquir- 
ingly for  our  "  Old  Guard.  "  Where  are 
the  battle-scarred  veterans  upon  whom  our 
Leader  can  depend  for  heroic  devotion  to 
duty?  Where  are  the  Old  Guard,  who 
never  surrender  ? 


The  Old  Guard  15 

I  propose  to  recall  to  you  some  of  the 
veterans  who  in  life  were  ever  found  in 
their  places  in  the  ranks  at  roll-call,  and 
who  merit  the  beautiful  tribute  of  having 
their  names  still  borne  upon  the  lists  and 
of  having  the  response  made  with  gen- 
erous tenderness,  "  Present ! — died  on  the 
field  of  honor ! " 

Do  not  imagine  from  this  military  in- 
troduction that  the  veterans  of  whom 
I  would  remind  you  were  men  of  war. 
They  pass  before  us  as  in  a  vision, 
grouped  as  in  that  touching  picture  of 
the  'Farewell at  Fontainebleau. — These  old 
soldiers  weep  with  anguish  as  they  sepa- 
rate— but  their  eyes  glisten  with  pride 
as  they  reflect  upon  the  glorious  achieve- 
ments wherein  they  participated. 

Let  us  call  the  roll  of  our  "  Old  Guard  ": 
Judah  the  Maccabee,  one  of  the  most  gal- 
lant generals  of  antiquity,  fought  for  his 
country  and  his  God.  Him  at  least  we 
keep  in  grateful  memory,  as  we  pay 
the  tribute  of  our  Chanuka  Festival. 
Proudly  his  blue  banner  fluttered  over 
the  host  of  brave  men  who  resisted  suc- 
cessfully an  enemy  hitherto  invincible. 


16  The  Old  Guard 

Nobly  he  met  his  death,  having  earned 
for  his  people  the  glory  of  devotion  to 
faith  and  of  national  revival  to  bear  a 
part  in  the  world's  affairs. 

Mordecai — the  stern  inflexible  Judge, 
who  lived  at  Shushan,  the  ancient  capital 
of  Persia,  cousin  of  the  Queen  chosen  by 
Ahasuerus  (Xerxes) — would  not  bend  the 
knee  or  prostrate  himself  in  reverence 
to  any  mortal  being.  There  is  something 
sterling  and  majestic  about  this  great 
man,  who  sought  the  peace  of  his  people 
and  participated  in  their  sorrows  and  in 
their  uprising.  He  founded  a  charity, 
which  exists,  despite  the  lapse  of  over 
three  thousand  years.  We  celebrate  the 
Feast  of  Purim  with  increasing  zeal. 
We  have  learned  to  put  into  practice 
Mordecai's  motto,  "  Seek  the  peace  of  my 
people,"  and  our  Purim  gift,  our  tribute 
to  his  memory,  implies  a  grateful  message 
of  love  and  fraternity  to  our  brethren  in 
the  Orient — even  "  throughout  the  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces  from 
India  to  Ethiopia." 

Daniel,  who  had  an  influential  position 
at  court  in  the  heyday  of  the  Babylonian 


The  Old  Guard  17 

Empire,  was  another  of  the  Old  Guard. 
A  man  of  genius,  too  profound  for  con 
temporaneous  comprehension,  and  his 
writings  the  source  of  much  uncomfortable 
discussion  in  every  age, — he  was  also  a 
man  of  action.  And  he  was  brave  and 
spirited  enough  to  insist  upon  performing 
his  religious  duties  even  though  the 
fashionable  courtiers  and  the  weak-kneed 
Hebrews  of  the  period  considered  it  puer- 
ile to  pray  at  stated  times  and  to  refuse 
forbidden  viands.  In  our  day,  such  critics 
would  cheerfully  give  up  all  prayer  and 
partake  of  any  kind  of  food  without  in- 
quiry or  compunction.  Daniel  was  made 
of  sterner  stuff.  His  condemnation  to  the 
arena,  where  the  royal  lions  were  overawed 
by  his  intrepidity,  was  the  suggestion  of 
a  tragic  incident  too  often  repeated  in  an- 
cient times.  Daniel,  like  the  Old  Guard, 
could  die,  but  he  would  not  surrender. 

Nehemiah,  the  favorite  officer  of  a 
famous  Persian  king,  was  another  of  our 
Old  Guard.  With  him  was  associated 
Ezra  the  scribe,  to  whom  the  world  is 
under  lasting  obligations  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Scriptures.  These  brave  men, 


1 8  The  Old  Guard 

to  whom  we  still  pay  the  compliment  of 
remembering  their  names  when  we  read 
the  contents  of  our  Bible,  restored  the 
Jewish  state,  purified  it  from  the  dross 
that  had  accumulated  during  the  first 
captivity,  defying  the  cowardly  marauders 
and  the  contemptible  critics  of  their  day, 
and  rebuilding  Jerusalem.  The  restora- 
tion was  but  for  a  brief  period — the  joy 
that  prevailed  as  the  Old  Guard  resumed 
their  watch  at  the  Temple  was  of  short 
duration.  St.  Helena  was  to  follow  the 
Elba  from  which  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  had 
brought  the  exiled  remnant.  Is  Zion  to 
be  restored  under  modern  leaders  ? 

Gedaliah,  too,  the  Governor  of  Jeru- 
salem, must  not  be  forgotten.  For  many 
centuries  we  kept  him  in  memory  by  ob- 
serving the  Feast  of  the  3d  of  Tishri — 
the  anniversary  of  his  assassination.  He 
fell  like  Lincoln  and  Garfield — a  victim  of 
insane,  brutal  passion — a  martyr  for  his 
country. 

Besides  these  heroes  of  antiquity  who, 
being  Hebrews  by  race  and  in  faith,  moved 
among  men  with  the  courage  of  conscious 
dignity  and  power,  how  many  glorious 


The  Old  Guard  19 

names  we  recall — prophets  and  leaders, 
poets  and  philosophers,  who  created,  em- 
bellished, and  strengthened  the  commun- 
ities of  Israel  in  biblical  and  post-biblical 
eras.  When  we  find  the  world  enthu- 
siastic in  praise  of  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Amos, 
and  Jeremiah,  we  dimly  remember  the 
stupendous  mental  and  moral  power  of 
those  wondrous  men  in  the  serious  con- 
flicts threatening  the  Jewish  common- 
wealth, the  religion,  the  race,  which, 
because  of  such  leadership,  despite  un- 
paralleled disasters,  preserved  its  fidelity, 
its  hope,  its  inherent  majesty  of  character. 
Others  of  the  Old  Guard  in  the  roll 
2000  years  ago  and  later  have  been  known 
to  us  from  their  honorable  lives  and  their 
immortal  works.  The  incidents  of  their 
martyrdom  we  recall  occasionally.  Once 
in  a  while  an  earnest  minister  of  our  time, 
when  his  congregation  are  weary  of  topics 
of  the  day,  relates  the  old,  old  story  of 
Akiba,  Joshua,  and  the  other  great  rabbis 
whom  Roman  Emperors  tortured  and  exe- 
cuted as  the  penalty  of  superior  knowl- 
edge and  supreme  devotion.  And  then 
we  bow  our  heads  reverently  as,  at  the 


20  The  Old  Guard 

roll-call,  the   response  "comes,   "  Died  on 
the  field  of  honor ! " 

Nor  does  the  record  end  with  Israel's 
dispersion.  Veterans  of  our  Old  Guard 
had  ceased  to  be  warriors,  armed  with 
weapons  prepared  to  confront  Titus  and 
his  generals  in  the  hopeless  struggle  for 
freedom  and  independence.  The  great 
and  good  men  who  belonged  to  the  in- 
vincibles  still  bore,  at  once  proudly  and 
humbly,  the  standard  of  the  Maccabees, 
and  addressed  themselves  to  the  work 
which,  in  after  days,  was  to  maintain  the 
perpetuity  of  Israel  as  a  nation  of  teachers. 
They  founded  schools  and  colleges,  they 
migrated  from  Syria  and  Babylonia  to 
Egypt,  Greece,  Italy,  Spain,  Holland, 
England,  Germany,  Poland.  They  had 
beaten  their  swords  into  pruning  hooks, 
and  in  their  quiet  schoolrooms  would  re- 
mind their  students  of  the  heroic  achieve- 
ments of  their  ancestry.  The  decoration 
of  a  Legion  of  Honor  founded  by  no 
mortal  sovereign — now  an  Emperor,  now 
a  hopeless  exile — but  ordained  by  the 
King  of  Kings,  a  Legion  of  Honor  that 
embraces  every  faithful  Israelite,  was  the 


The  Old  Guard  21 

heritage  of  the  staunch  veteran  who  taught 
school  and  worked  at  his  trade,  that  he 
might  by  manual  labor  secure  his  inde- 
pendence— the  means  of  living,  and  of  re- 
lieving the  poor. 

And  the  roll  has  gone  on — steadily  ex- 
tending and  extending  throughout  the 
dispersion — a  roll  emblazoned  with  names 
that  never  die. 

Has  the  Old  Guard  ceased  to  be  ?  That 
is  the  vital  question  for  modern  Judaism. 
I  am  among  the  hopeful  ones  who  believe 
there  are  still  veterans  who  maintain  the 
glorious  record,  who  will  never  surrender 
their  sacred  trust,  and  that  their  example 
will  prove  a  stimulus. 

I  shall  recall  some  of  the  distinguished 
men  of  recent  years  whose  exemplary  lives 
dignify  our  own  ancestral  and  contempo- 
rary annals,  whose  portraits  we  may  place 
in  our  national  gallery,  and  whose  memory 
will  inspire  and  revive  generations  unborn. 

It  seems  but  yesterday  that  we  followed 
to  the  grave  Einhorn,  the  sturdy  old 
teacher,  brave  in  defence  of  liberty  and 
truth,  to  whom  the  idea  of  surrender  was 
despicable.  How  keenly  we  miss  Leeser, 


22  The  Old  Guard 

the  indomitable  writer  and  thinker,  who 
labored  for  Israel  without  recognition  and 
whose  monument  is  the  Jewish  press,  and 
Raphall,  learned  and  dignified,  nobly  rep- 
resenting the  Jews  among  scholars  and 
publicists ;  Major  Noah,  who  gave  great 
promise  of  distinction  as  a  man  of  politi- 
cal foresight  and  influence  ;  Dr.  Huebsch 
— a  soldier  by  education,  a  sturdy  defen- 
der of  the  faith — a  man  of  the  age,  who 
was  dearly  loved,  and  whose  sturdy  re- 
sponse at  roll-call  we  almost  hear. 

A  beloved  veteran  has  just  passed  away 
— Sabato  Morais — a  revered  teacher,  of 
deep  learning  and  pious  life,  a  true  leader 
and  example.  He  is  identified  with  the 
Jewish  Seminary  and  with  Judaism.  Not 
long  ago,  the  brilliant  and  noble  spirit  of 
Adolph  L.  Sanger  left  its  mortal  casket. 
How  we  loved  that  disinterested  and 
gifted  friend  who  devoted  his  best  years  to 
the  services  of  his  fellow-citizens  and  who 
was  as  distinguished  in  the  Temple  as  he 
was  in  his  public  career  !  Then  there  was 
Benjamin  F.  Peixotto  who  so  honorably 
represented  his  country  at  Bucharest,  and 
whose  Consulate  was  the  place  of  refuge 


The  Old  Guard  23 

of  hundreds  of  Jews  fleeing  from  their  op- 
pressors. Peixotto  was  an  American  of 
Americans,  a  faithful  Israelite,  and  every 
inch  a  man.  Michael  Heilprin  was  a  mar- 
tyr in  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  whom  he 
served  with  rare  singleness  of  purpose  and 
deep  insight.  No  one  who  had  to  do  with 
the  Russian-Jewish  problem  mastered  it 
as  Heilprin  did.  His  example  was  "  a  lib- 
eral education."  A  great  scholar  and  of 
wonderful  command  of  facts,  he  gave  his 
life  to  the  cause  of  humanity. 

Of  modern  veterans,  there  was  Rapo- 
port  of  Prague,  the  ideal  of  one  of  Op- 
penheim's  pictures  of  Jewish  life  —  his 
conception  of  a  Rabbi  imparting  the  bless- 
ing in  the  Synagogue.  I  saw  him  in  1 867 — 
then  feeble  and  wearily  resting  on  his  couch 
of  suffering.  How  his  eye  glistened  as  we 
spoke  of  my  sainted  father,  then  a  minister 
of  the  old  faith  in  distant  America  !  His 
patriarchal  countenance,  benevolent  ex- 
pression— how  can  I  forget  it,  as  he  gave 
his  parting  blessing  !  What  a  noble  life 
in  defence  of  Judaism,  of  its  right  to  en- 
dure and  to  be  honored  in  modern  times  ! 
What  scholarship,  what  perseverance,  what 


24  The  Old  Guard 

piety,  what  indifference  to  the  censure  of 
the  ignorant  and  worldly !  He  was  like 
one  of  the  Prophets  of  old  projected 
into  our  century — realizing  the  wondrous 
changes  of  Time — but  still  the  fervent 
worshipper  of  God,  the  gentle  lover  of 
mankind,  the  zealous,  honest  teacher  of  his 
age,  the  aggressive  opponent  of  shams, 
the  "guide  of  the  perplexed,"  now  and 
hereafter. 

Cremieux  I  met  but  twice,  although  for 
years  there  was  an  interchange  of  letters, 
and  so  touching  and  true  was  his  patriotic 
ardor  that  I  seem  still  to  behold  him — to 
be  listening  to  his  impassioned  voice. 
Until  the  age  of  eighty- three,  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  grand  work  of  the  "  Alli- 
ance "  upon  whose  annals  he  shed  the 
lustre  of  a  brilliant  intellect  inspired  by 
ardent  enthusiasm  and  generous  love  of 
humanity.  A  bright  spirit,  a  thorough 
man,  an  Israelite  who  thought  more  of 
his  race  than  of  his  creed,  he  labored  with 
rare  energy  and  perseverance  for  the 
emancipation  of  his  people.  Active  in 
benevolence,  he  was  brave  and  useful 
as  a  citizen  of  the  world.  France  la- 


The  Old  Guard  25 

mented  in  him  the  faithful  Senator  and 
Minister,  as  Israel  mourned  a  brother 
who  never  faltered  in  duty  towards  his 
fellow-men. 

Sir  Francis  Goldsmid's  is  a  less  familiar 
name.  He  was  a  generous  scion  of  a  noble 
house — his  father  the  vigorous  champion 
of  religious  liberty  when  espousing  that 
cause  implied  incessant  labor,  suffer- 
ing, bitter  sorrow,  and  disappointment. 
He  was  a  zealous  and  punctilious 
conformist,  a  barrister  of  repute,  the 
head  of  a  leading  scientific  society,  a 
philanthropist  whose  heart,  hand,  and 
purse  were  open  to  the  sufferer,  the  op- 
pressed of  whatever  race.  He  was  the 
ideal  of  the  modern  Jew,  of  marked  dis- 
tinction in  society,  entertaining  with  hos- 
pitality, and  as  a  true  English  gentleman 
honored  by  the  exclusive  circles  which  do 
not  open  their  doors  to  mere  wealth  and 
are  certainly  slow  to  abandon  ancient  pre- 
judices. Of  unsullied  ancestry,  distin- 
guished abilities  and  manners,  he  was 
respected  as  a  loyal  subject,  a  lawyer  of 
integrity  and  erudition,  a  friend  of  human- 
ity, a  legislator  well  equipped  and  of  broad 


26  The  Old  Guard 

views.  When  he  rose  in  his  place  in  the 
House  of  Commons  and  demanded  that 
civilized  nations  consider  the  grievances 
of  the  downtrodden  Jews  of  Servia,  there 
was  respect  for  his  zealous  advocacy  of 
the  rights  of  his  oppressed  brethren,  al- 
though the  Israelites  throughout  Europe 
and  America  have  never  adequately  ap- 
preciated the  intense  earnestness  with 
which  he  espoused  the  cause.  In  later 
years  he  seconded  with  signal  liberality 
and  intensity  the  efforts  of  Cremieux  for 
the  emancipation  of  the  Jews  of  Roumania. 
The  American  Consul  at  Bucharest 
(Peixotto),  during  the  trying  period  when 
the  American  flag  protected  beleaguered 
Roumanian  Jews,  had  no  more  powerful 
ally  than  Sir  Francis.  And  such  were  the 
simplicity  and  fidelity  of  this  great  man, 
that  on  the  Sabbath  he  walked  habitually 
to  Westminster,  taking  his  luncheon  with 
him,  rather  than  violate  the  dietary  law  ! 
A  polished  gentleman,  a  thorough  man  of 
the  world,  he  was  in  fact  what  George 
Eliot  sought  to  picture  in  Deronda. 

And  the  sturdy  veteran  of  many  cam- 
paigns for  religious  liberty — the  venerated 


The  Old  Guard  27 

Montefiore,  who  was  a  man  of  affairs  at 
the  very  period  when  Waterloo  ended 
Napoleon's  career.  All  of  us  bow  rever- 
ently and  salute  our  flag  to  this  glorious 
member  of  the  Old  Guard. 

By  common  consent,  Montefiore  was 
the  typical  Hebrew.  In  his  name  phil- 
anthropic work  goes  on  throughout  the 
world.  He  might  have  achieved  distinc- 
tion in  science,  in  finance,  in  statecraft. 
An  an  early  age,  he  was  honored  in  these 
departments,  as  he  was  welcomed  by  so- 
ciety, which,  in  England  as  elsewhere,  was 
not  cordial  in  recognition  of  the  Hebrew. 
Distinguished  for  his  piety,  his  love  of 
Israel,  he  was  no  less  remarkable  for  his 
moderation  and  self-denial.  He  declined 
the  prizes  that  awaited  the  successful  man 
who  had  made  his  way  to  the  hearts  of 
the  English  people — he  was  the  friend  of 
their  young  Queen — and  he  devoted  him- 
self, like  Moses  his  prototype,  to  the  rescue 
of  his  brethren  from  bondage.  His  most 
fitting  monument  is  the  Home  established 
in  this  city  which  maintains  vigorously  the 
rites  of  Judaism  within  its  walls,  and  does 
not  inquire  the  creed  or  nationality  of 


28  The  Old  Guard 

the   sufferer   who   petitions  for  a  vacant 
bed. 

Montefiore's  features  are  familiar  to  us 
all  —  his   towering   form   was   strikingly 
significant   of   his   sturdy,    vigorous,    un- 
bending nature.     The  chronicler  seeking 
to  deal  even-handed   justice    will  note  a 
blemish — a  contracted  view  of   life;  but 
the  true  Montefiore  is  not  revealed  to  the 
observer  who  recalls  this  suggestion.     He 
was   uncompromising  —  he   defied   every 
open  enemy — there  was  no   flaw   in  his 
armor — he  would  meet  the  foe  without 
flinching,   he  would  die  rather  than  sur- 
render   a    principle.      The     world    had, 
indeed,  gone   beyond   the   veteran    of   a 
century  :  but  which  was  in  the  right,  the 
facile,    trimming,    ease-loving,    somewhat 
hypocritical    world,    or    Montefiore  ?      It 
was  he,  the  determined  foe  of  injustice, 
that  awakened  the  Czar  at  St.  Petersburg, 
the  Sultan  at  Constantinople,  the  Emperor 
at  Fez,  to  a  sense  of  the  wrong  done  a 
people  who  deserved  naught  but  respect 
and  impartial  treatment,  and  who  aroused 
the  sympathies  of  mankind  in  behalf  of 
the   downtrodden   and   persecuted.       He 


The  Old  Guard  29 

was  no  Sybarite,  this  wealthy  Englishman 
who  could  have  lived  at  ease  amid  the 
luxurious  surroundings  of  his  castle,  free 
to  speculate  in  science  with  Faraday,  in 
finance  with  Rothschild.  He  relinquished 
comfort  naturally  dear  to  a  man  of  eighty 
or  ninety  years,  and  still  pursued  his 
journey  around  the  world  rescuing  an- 
other Jewish  community  from  Russian  or 
Roumanian  persecution. 

No  wonder  Great  Britain  carried  over 
the  seas,  in  a  gallant  man-of-war,  this 
glorious  peaceful  victor  in  a  campaign  for 
human  rights. 

Small  need  to  dwell  upon  other  veterans, 
when  we  have  named  Montefiore — the 
captain  of  our  Old  Guard,  the  Moses,  the 
Daniel,  the  Mordecai  of  modern  times ! 

The  future  of  Judaism  depends  some- 
what upon  reminiscence,  despite  a  dis- 
tinguished critic  who,  having  found  the 
creed  and  the  race  too  cramped  for  his 
soaring  pinions,  abandoned  the  nest,  and 
failed  to  learn  that  destruction  is  not  re- 
form or  reconstruction. 

Fidelity  to  principle  implanted  in  the 
Jewish  race  as  its  distinctive  honor  may, 


30  The  Old  Guard 

for  the  moment,  be  overwhelmed  in  the 
current  atmosphere  of  selfishness,  insin- 
cerity, greed,  sensation,  and  speculation. 
If  Hebrews  are  no  better  than  their  neigh- 
bors and  fall  naturally  into  the  weakness 
and  lapses  characteristic  of  the  day,  what 
but  the  past  glory  of  an  unsullied  history, 
the  wondrous  heroism  of  race, — what  but 
the  story  of  our  Old  Guard — can  bid  us 
pause  in  this  mad  scramble  after  mere 
money  and  the  power  to  crush  the  weaker 
man,  the  less  obtrusive  cause  ? 

In  the  example  of  the  Old  Guard  who 
moved  among  men  with  the  conscious 
dignity  of  integrity,  independence,  loyalty 
to  principle,  we  find  the  stimulus  which 
even  intelligent  people  need. 

The  study  of  this  hour  is,  after  we  have 
grasped  the  problem  of  earning  a  liveli- 
hood, to  demonstrate  our  right  to  the 
world's  respect.  It  happens  that  notwith- 
standing the  progress  of  mankind  in  all 
that  appertains  to  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence and  the  knowledge  that  comforts 
us  as  that  struggle  continues,  there  is  a 
dual  life  for  the  Hebrew  who  is  not  a 
resident  and  a  ruler  in  a  Hebrew  king- 


The  Old  Guard  31 

dom  or  republic.  It  is  futile  to  dream  of 
equality  for  Jew  and  Christian  in  a  com- 
munity where  the  majority  is  ignorant, 
avaricious,  and  unjust.  Hence  in  ancient 
Egypt,  the  servile  lords,  priests,  and  ma- 
gicians, echoed  the  cry  of  the  people, 
"  These  Hebrews  increase  too  rapidly — 
drown  them  in  the  Nile  ! "  And  in  modern 
Roumania,  the  sensual  Boyar  having  no 
longer  any  lands  whose  revenue  will  pur- 
chase his  pleasures,  joins  hands  with  the 
gross  idlers  of  the  market-place  in  de- 
manding that  the  industrious,  thrifty,  hon- 
est, and  domestic  Jews  be  cast  into  the 
Danube.  As  Mordecai,  the  independent 
magistrate  of  Shushan,  sought  to  save  his 
sovereign  from  a  conspiracy  and  would 
not  do  homage  to  the  chief  conspirator, 
the  Vizier  Haman  would  drive  all  the 
Jews  out  of  Persia.  The  crafty  Tor- 
quemada  detected  the  weakness  of  his 
royal  master ;  and  as  the  merchants, 
scholars,  and  generous  subjects  of  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella  who  were  at  once 
loyal  Spaniards  and  earnest  Israelites, 
would  not  second  the  schemes  of  the  wily 
Jesuit,  he  too  persuaded  his  country's 


32  The  Old  Guard 

ruler  to  drive  out  his  country's  most  valu- 
able denizens. 

In  this  century,  which  has  witnessed  the 
substitution  of  the  electric  motor  for  the 
stage-coach,  which  has  reduced  the  transit 
of  a  message  across  the  ocean  from  sixty 
days  to  sixty  seconds,  which  has  seen  the 
overthrow  of  many  prejudices  and  super- 
stitions, and  has  created  a  philosophy,  a 
science,  a  statecraft,  while  restoring  an- 
cient glories  and  revealing  forgotten  an- 
cient secrets, — we  observe  with  constant 
surprise  that  the  friction  between  the  races 
and  the  ideas  represented  by  Christianity 
and  Judaism  continues.  • 

The  motive  no  longer  exists — not  even 
mediaeval  kings  or  barons  can  now  utilize 
their  absolute  power  as  brigands  by  rob- 
bery with  the  alternative  of  extracting  the 
teeth  of  Hebrews  who  decline  to  squan- 
der their  honest  earnings  in  riotous  living. 
The  occasion  no  longer  exists — it  is  ad- 
mitted that  Meyerbeer  is  quite  the  equal 
of  Wagner,  that  Disraeli  was  almost  peer- 
less amid  the  giants  of  diplomacy,  that  the 
universities  of  Europe  and  America  are 
proud  of  Hebrew  students  who  are  faithful 


The  Old  Guard  33 

to  science  and  to  their  lineage.  The 
ground  no  longer  exists  —  the  Hebrew 
who  lives  in  London,  Paris,  or  New  York 
looks  and  is  precisely  as  respectable  as 
his  neighbor ;  he  does  not  wear  the  cos- 
tume of  the  Russian  village,  he  does  not 
practise  the  methods  of  business  or  the  ex- 
ternals as  to  appearance  or  manners  which 
were  characteristic  of  the  downtrodden 
minority  in  that  provincial  town  ;  he  acts, 
lives,  moves,  and  deports  himself  —  more 
or  less  quietly — like  his  fellow-citizens. 

Now  if  despite  the  fact  that  the  motive, 
the  occasion,  the  reason  for  treating  the 
Jew  as  an  alien  no  longer  exists,  the  world 
still  discloses  the  magician  of  the  Nile, 
the  minister  of  the  Persian  state,  the 
Jesuit  of  Madrid,  the  ruffian  of  the  Dan- 
ube, always  ready  to  misjudge,  to  con- 
demn, to  wrong,  to  insult,  to  provoke,  to 
persecute,  the  unoffending  Jew  who  sim- 
ply prefers  to  "  live  among  his  people " 
and  is  "seeking  the  peace  of  the  country 
in  which  he  dwells "  —  then  more  than 
ever  must  we  keep  before  our  eyes  these 
veterans  of  the  Old  Guard  who  endured 
contumely  as  men  and  as  Hebrews  — 

3 


34  The  Old  Guard 

who  suffered  martyrdom  but  never  de- 
serted their  colors  —  who  were  wronged 
and  tempted  but  never  surrendered  their 
principles. 

Some  of  us  may  despair  of  the  future, 
because,  for  the  moment,  as  Emerson  com- 
plains, "  success  is  held  in  higher  esteem 
than  merit. "  The  very  recollection  of 
the  Old  Guard,  with  their  inflexible  cour- 
age and  loyalty,  must  strengthen  us. 
What  is  the  future  of  Judaism — of  any 
religion,  race,  or  system — if  untrue  to  the 
ideals  men  have  honored  as  typical  of  the 
highest  virtue  ? 

Is  it,  then,  a  religion  of  the  past  that 
continually  presents  to  the  youth  of  this 
generation  the  sterling  examples  of  our 
Old  Guard  ?  Patriotism  is  the  same  to- 
day as  in  the  time  of  the  Maccabees. 
Courage  and  principle  are  to-day  what 
they  were  in  the  age  of  Daniel  or  of  Sam- 
uel, of  Maimonides  or  of  Abarbanel,  of 
Menasseh  ben  Israel  or  of  Mendelssohn. 
Men  may  change — principles  never. 

In  France,  notwithstanding  the  extraor- 
dinary and  revolutionary  changes  of  gov- 
ernment since  the  Reign  of  Terror,  and 


The  Old  Guard  35 

bearing  in  mind  the  hysteria  occasionally 
manifesting  itself,  the  Old  Nobility  still 
maintains  its  hold  upon  the  affections  of 
the  people.  New  elements  have  displaced 
the  former  influential  men  of  action  and 
leaders  of  opinion.  The  warrior  of  Napo- 
leon 's  campaigns  shares  with  the  "  an- 
cienne  noblesse  "  in  the  honor  and  dignity 
accorded  the  representatives  of  an  idea, 
an  era,  national  or  universal.  The  con- 
sideration paid  to  such  types  of  past 
greatness,  even  in  busy  France  of  the  utili- 
tarian age,  has  created  a  reflex  obligation 
which  the  scions  of  the  distinguished  fam- 
ilies cordially  avow.  "  Noblesse  oblige  " 
is  a  maxim.  Ordinary  people  may  com- 
mit a  meanness ;  the  descendants  of  the 
old  nobility  —  the  Old  Guard  —  never  ! 
Family  traditions  have  the  force  of  laws 
that  cannot  be  ignored. 

Oh  !  the  grandest  family  traditions  are 
those  which  treat  of  Abraham,  Moses, 
Samuel,  Ezra,  the  Maccabees,  Ben  Jochai, 
Judah  Hanassi,  Judah  Hallevi,  Maimon- 
ides,  Cremieux,  Montefiore ! 

"The  merits  of  our  ancestors"  saved 
us  in  the  past — strengthened  us  amid 


36  The  Old  Guard 

persecution  and  in  the  face  of  martyrdom — 
preserved  Israel  as  a  wonder — a  power 
among  nations.  This  very  nobility  of 
which  we  have  been  proud,  obliges  us  to 
be  true  to  the  lofty  ideal. 

When  a  Jew  commits  a  wrong,  it  reflects 
upon  the  whole  community.  The  old 
Romans  had  no  censure  too  severe  for 
degenerate  sons  of  noble  sires.  The  most 
renowned  warriors  and  statesmen  of  the 
consular  days  were  wont  to  enrol  them- 
selves, by  adoption,  in  leading  families. 
The  household  gods — the  tutelar  divinities 
—  the  ancestral  images  —  were  guarded 
with  jealousy  and  reverence.  The  family 
name  was  an  object  of  worship.  How 
can  we  condone  the  offence  which  a  Jew 
commits  in  "  desecration  of  the  Holy 
Name  " — in  doing  a  wrong  which  belittles 
Judaism — which  deepens  the  misconceived 
prejudice  against  the  Hebrew  race? 

By  the  memory  of  the  Old  Guard  who 
never  faltered  in  their  duty  to  God  and 
man,  we  appeal  to  the  Jews  of  to-day — 
be  true,  be  loyal,  be  noble,  in  devotion  to 
principle. 

Duty  is  our  watchword,  now,  as  ever. 


The  Old  Guard  37 

No  other  race  has  understood  or  practised 
it  so  unselfishly,  so  bravely,  so  devotedly. 
The  motto  of  the  French  noble  is  our 
race's  war  cry.  Courtesy  in  externals 
is  the  modest  manifestation  of  the  soul's 
genuine  greatness.  It  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  his  faith  for  the  Jew  to 
be  a  loyal  citizen.  The  Law  commands 
"  seek  ye  the  peace  of  the  land  wherein  ye 
dwell."  It  is  not  inconsistent  with  his  re- 
ligion to  be  a  gentleman — the  Law  com- 
mands him  to  treat  with  tenderness  the 
widow  and  the  fatherless,  to  respect  the 
hoary  head,  to  put  no  stumbling  block 
before  the  blind,  nor  to  curse  the  deaf — 
not  to  keep  back  the  wages  of  the  hired 
man  for  a  single  night — to  be  kind  to  the 
brute  creation — to  leave  the  corners  of 
the  field  for  the  poor  gleaners — "  not  to 
vex  the  stranger."  And  the  sum  of  all 
the  philosophy  of  life  is  in  the  same  law 
— "  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

The  Old  Guard  of  the  Hebrews  were, 
then,  true  citizens,  upright  gentlemen. 
Their  Law,  their  race,  obliged  them  to  be 
examples  of  courtesy,  justice,  kindness, 
fair  dealing,  charity,  loyalty,  courage, 


38  The  Old  Guard 

devotion.  Their  chivalry  was  not  limited 
by  clime  or  family,  or  weakened  by  pre- 
judice or  fanaticism.  These  true  knights 
were  ever  ready  to  do  battle  for  the  right, 
to  protect  the  poor  and  defenceless.  They 
could  die  for  truth's  sake — they  were  in- 
capable of  dishonorable  life. 

God   bless   the   memory    of    our   Old 
Guard ! 


SIDONIA1 

I 

THERE  are  some  characters  in  fiction 
which  seem  to  represent  the  author's  in- 
dividuality. They  recall  that  in  his  career 
which  he  would  prefer  to  have  associated 
with  his  name,  his  memory.  We  do  not 
conceive  of  such  personages  as  merely 
isolated.  The  essential  reason  for  their 
existence  is  the  peculiar  tendency  of  the 
novelist,  or  it  may  be  his  environment. 

In  the  study  of  Disraeli's  favorite  crea- 
tion, one  is  irresistibly  led  to  associate  it 
with  the  motif  of  the  author's  life.  As 
Sidonia  is  of  the  Hebrew  race,  we  feel 
that  the  artist  who  painted  the  portrait  so 
skilfully  did  it  lovingly — that  his  heart  was 
in  his  work,  that  he  found  it  difficult  to 
conceal  his  emotions  as  he  completed  a 
picture  the  world  was  to  understand  and 
admire. 

What  occurs  to  us  naturally    has  not 

1  Delivered  before  the  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Association 
of  New  York,  April  16,  1879. 
39 


40  Sidonia 

been  overlooked  by  unfriendly  critics. 
Nor  does  it  surprise  us  that  half-informed 
and  prejudiced  observers  have  sought  out 
in  Disraeli's  life  and  writings  traces  of  a 
race,  a  spirit,  which  is  in  conflict  with  the 
Aryans.  Disraeli,  the  statesman  who  has 
maintained  England's  honor  to  a  degree 
unapproached  by  any  Minister  since  Pitt, 
is  called  un-English.  Disraeli  the  author, 
who  has  studied  British  politics,  the 
Anglican  Church,  Europe,  Asia,  the  pres- 
ent, the  future,  of  parties  and  empires, 
with  the  astuteness  of  a  publicist  and  a 
philosopher,  is  reproved  for  his  oriental 
imagination,  which,  prophetically,  conjured 
u  p  socialist  and  nihilist  movements  years 
in  advance  of  their  fruition. 

It  will  not  be  unprofitable  to  consider 
the  strictures  of  one  reviewer  who  has 
returned  to  the  charge  in  a  recent  notice 
of  Endymion,  and  whose  original  analy- 
sis of  Disraeli's  career  was  published  in 
the  Fortnightly  Review  on  the  appearance 
of  Lothair.  A  remarkable  paragraph  in 
this  article  attracts  us  : 

"  The  consciousness  of  his  race  and  of  his 
faith  never  seems  to  escape  him.     Juda- 


Sidonia  41 

ism  and  the  Jews  have  been  thrust  by  him 
with  an  almost  unnecessary  pertinacity  into 
English  politics  and  literature.  He  has 
never  been  able  to  leave  the  matter  alone, 
and  to  consider  the  question  of  Jew  or 
Gentile  as  a  thing  socially  and  politically 
indifferent.  Perhaps  this  would  have  been 
impossible  in  the  midst  of  the  prejudices 
of  race  and  religion  by  which  he  has  been 
surrounded,  and  in  face  of  the  coarse  in- 
sults which  those  prejudices  have  occasion- 
ally prompted.  Lord  Beaconsfield's  con- 
duct on  this  point  during  the  whole  of  his 
political  career  is  entitled  to  genuine  and 
cordial  respect.  Even  the  extravagances 
into  which  he  has  been  betrayed  are  extrava- 
gances of  courageous  championship  and 
of  manly  self-assertion.  They  deserve  in- 
dulgent and  tender  treatment."  The  writer 
then,  with  the  keenness  of  a  scalpel  and 
with  intense  malevolence,  dissects  Dis- 
raeli's political  career,  dwelling  upon  the 
point  that  "  the  secret  of  his  life  lies  in 
his  Jewish  blood."  It  is  this  which  has 
made  of  him  "  a  political  soldier  of  fortune  " 
rather  than  an  English  statesman,  which  be- 
trays itself  "  in  love  of  display,  in  theatrical 


42  Sidonia 

exaggeration,  in  subordination  of  party,  of 
country — to  self." 

In  stern  rebuke  of  their  reckless  miscon- 
ception and  depreciation  of  Jewish  charac- 
ter— which  is  claimed  to  be  "  affected  by 
two  thousand  years  of  suffering  and  perse- 
cution," so  that  "  the  Jews  have  imbibed 
servile  vices  .  .  .  their  persons  have 
been  enfranchised,  but  not  their  minds" — 
is  the  career  of  Disraeli,  the  author,  the 
humanitarian,  the  statesman.  In  happy 
and  complete  contrast  with  the  picture  of 
Jewish  inferiority,  is  the  true  story  of  Jew- 
ish sympathy  with  the  world's  progress 
in  every  country  where  the  Jew  has  been 
admitted  to  the  rights  of  manhood. 

Disraeli  began  to  write  novels  nearly 
fifty  years  ago.  At  the  same  time  he  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  compelling  the  English 
people  to  listen  to  his  utterances.  He 
had  a  wondrous  fight  before  him.  He 
conquered  the  public  by  the  grace  of  his 
style,  the  boldness  and  individuality  of 
his  opinions.  He  won  his  way  to  fame 
by  the  singleness  and  fixedness  of  pur- 
pose which  gave  early  promise  of  a  career 
unique  in  history. 


Sidonia  43 

In  the  year  1844  he  published  Conings- 
by  in  which  for  the  first  time  he  undertook 
in  story  "  to  do  justice  to  the  race  which 
founded  Christianty."  In  this  enigmatical 
fashion,  he  himself  described  the  motive 
which  led  to  the  creation  of  the  character 
"Sidonia"  —  the  typical  Hebrew  of  the 
modern  era,  winning  position  and  favor 
by  the  aid  of  immense  wealth  and  in  no 
respect  the  mere  slave  of  money  —  the 
millionaire  whose  religion  was  the  purest, 
the  loftiest,  the  broadest  humanity  —  who 
was  the  natural  protector  of  his  oppressed 
brethren,  who  led  in  society  by  virtue  of  a 
cosmopolitan  temper  which  was,  for  his 
associates,  incompatible  with  a  creed  and 
a  race  so  despised  and  so  misunderstood 
as  the  Jewish. 

It  is  a  fact,  for  which  Hebrews  every- 
where owe  Disraeli  an  eternal  debt  of  grati- 
tude, that  he  awakened  popular  sentiment 
in  favor  of  the  race  to  a  degree  that 
in  our  day  seems  incredible.  We  shall 
not  be  regarded  as  lacking  in  reveren- 
tial respect  for  the  great  Mendelssohn, 
who  aroused  mankind  to  a  sense  of  justice 
to  his  brethren,  and  whose  bold,  incisive 


44  Sidonia 

vindication  of  their  fair  fame  contributed 
mightily  to  their  intellectual  and  social 
emancipation,  when  we  recall  gratefully 
the  services  rendered  to  Israel  by  the 
rising  statesman  and  author,  no  longer 
conformist  but  who  had  not  ceased  to 
love  and  feel  for  his  kindred.  The  bril- 
liant novelist  attracted  the  class  that  had 
never  heard  of  Mendelssohn  or  Lessing — 
the  ruling  class  in  England.  "  The  Jew 
that  Shakespeare  drew"  was  too  faithful 
a  delineation  of  the  Jew  as  his  detractors, 
after  making  use  of  his  resources,  would 
describe  him  in  the  Elizabethan  age. 
The  only  Jew  that  other  English  authors 
attempted  to  depict  was  a  Shylock  in 
clothes  of  British  cut.  And  later  when 
Dickens  created  Fagin,  it  was  a  miser- 
able example  of  the  lowest  order  of  Eng- 
lishmen that  he  described — and  to  such 
church  and  synagogue  were  equally 
unknown. 

In  Disraeli's  time  the  position  of  the 
Jewish  body  (save  in  Holland  and  in 
France)  was  that  of  a  nomadic  tribe  on  suf- 
ferance in  civilized  Europe.  It  is  immaterial 
that  signal  exceptions  were  encountered 


Sidonia  45 

in  daily  life — in  history.  Our  renowned 
Montefiore — chief  in  philanthropic  work 
for  humanity,  dear  to  every  heart  that 
feels  a  throb  of  human  love — was  already, 
indeed,  the  trusted  officer  of  the  youthful 
Queen  whom,  when  the  child  daughter  of 
the  Duchess  of  Kent,  he  had  entertained 
at  Ramsgate.  Goldsmid,  Salomons,  and 
Rothschild  were  names  not  unknown. 
And  yet  in  England  the  popular  idea  of 
a  Jew  was  a  distressing  combination  of 
the  second-hand  dealer  and  the  usurer, 
despised  and  contemptible. 

And  has  the  picture  been  wholly  effaced 
from  the  memory,  the  consciousness  of 
ordinary  people,  in  our  day  ? 

It  is  not  surprising  that  even  now 
Haman's  opinion  should  be  occasionally 
affirmed  in  some  new  fashion:  "  There 
is  a  people  scattered  yet  separate  among 
all  the  nations  in  all  the  provinces  of 
thy  kingdom  :  and  their  laws  are  different 
from  those  of  every  people,  while  they  do 
not  execute  the  laws  of  the  King ;  and 
it  is  no  profit  for  the  King  to  tolerate 
them."  And  the  same  reason  exists  for 
enforcing  the  Hamanic  decree  (where 


46  Sidonia 

possible)  by  royal  edict — "  Mordecai  will 
not  bend  the  knee  nor  prostrate  himself 
before  the  upstart !  " 


II 


We  are  introduced  to  the  young 
Sidonia  in  the  pretty  episode  of  "the 
Baron's  family"  in  Tancred.  Sidonia 
was  on  his  travels  in  Flanders  when  he 
was  attracted  by  the  remarkable  feats  of 
a  party  of  strolling  players,  a  father  and 
six  children.  Discovering  by  mysteri- 
ous instinct  that  this  was  a  Jewish  family, 
Sidonia  conceived  the  idea  of  raising  them 
to  the  height  of  prosperity;  and,  discerning 
the  particular  ambition  of  each  member, 
he  gratified  it  in  most  princely  fashion. 
In  the  sequel,  it  is  told  that  one  daughter 
became  "  the  glory  of  the  French  stage — 
the  most  admirable  tragic  actress — her 
appearance  at  once  charmed  and  com- 
manded the  most  refined  audience  in 
Europe";  another  child  performs  to  en- 
thusiastic houses  in  the  first  opera  of  her 
brother,  who  promises  to  be  the  rival  of 
Meyerbeer  and  Mendelssohn  ;  "  her  soft 


Sidonia  47 

hearted  brother  is  painting  the  new  cham- 
bers of  the  papal  palace,  a  cavaliere  deco- 
rated with  many  orders,  and  the  restorer 
of  the  once  famous  Roman  school.  " 

This  touching  and  delightful  episode 
which  so  happily  illustrates  the  lovely 
family  life  of  the  Hebrews — the  devotion 
of  parents  and  children — the  respect  for 
the  old  grandmother — the  generosity  of 
the  race — and  which  actually  tells  a  true 
story  of  encouragement  and  awakening  of 
genius  under  the  inspiration  of  a  Jewish 
helping  hand  (for  the  renowned  Rachel 
and  the  Felix  family  were  thus  intro- 
duced to  fame  through  the  munificence 
of  their  patron,  Baron  Rothschild) — is  re- 
lated to  Tancred  in  the  Lebanon  forest, 
the  narrator  being  one  of  the  Baron's 
family  whom  Sidonia  made  an  accom- 
plished traveller. 

It  is  a  companion  picture  to  the  exquis- 
ite study  of  oriental  life  in  the  hospitable 
Damascene  mansion  of  Besso,  the  Syrian 
banker  —  correspondent  of  the  house  of 
Sidonia.  "  It  is  the  Feast  of  the  Taber- 
nacles. At  the  side  of  the  oriental  prince 
is  his  lovely  daughter  holding  in  the  one 


48  Sidonia 

hand  the  palm  branch,  in  the  other  the 
fresh  citron.  How  beats  the  heart  of  the 
descendant  of  the  ancient  Sephardic  fam- 
ily as  he  reflects  :  '  The  vineyards  of  Israel 
have  ceased  to  exist,  but  the  eternal  law 
enjoins  the  children  of  Israel  still  to  cele- 
brate the  vintage.  A  race  that  persists 
in  celebrating  their  vintage,  although  they 
may  have  no  fruits  to  gather,  will  regain 
their  vineyards.  What  sublime  inexora- 
bility in  the  law  !  What  indomitable  spirit 
in  the  people  ! ' 

i  "  It  is  easy  for  the  happier  Sephardim, 
the  Hebrews  who  have  never  quitted  the 
sunny  regions  laved  bythe  midland  ocean 
—  it  is  easy  for  them,  though  they  have 
lost  their  heritage,  to  sympathize  in  their 
beautiful  Asian  cities  or  in  their  Moorish 
or  Arabian  gardens  with  the  graceful  rites 
that  are,  at  least,  an  homage  to  a  benig- 
nant Nature.  But  picture  to  yourself  the 
child  of  Israel  in  the  dingy  suburb,  or  the 
squalid  quarter  of  some  bleak  northern 
town,  where  there  is  never  a  sun  that  can 
at  any  rate  ripen  grapes.  Yet  he  must 
celebrate  the  vintage  of  purple  Palestine  ! 
There  is  something  profoundly  interesting 


Sidonia  49 

in  this  devoted  observance  of  oriental 
customs  in  the  heart  of  our  Saxon  and 
Slavonian  cities  —  in  these  descendants 
of  the  Bedouins  who  conquered  Canaan 
more  than  three  thousand  years  ago  still 
celebrating  that  success  which  secured  for 
their  forefathers  for  the  first  time  grapes 
and  wine ! " 


III 


Such  were  the  pictures  that  Disraeli 
painted  for  the  English  people,  who  be- 
gan to  arouse  to  a  sense  of  the  injustice, 
the  wrong,  that  had  been  done  to  this 
wondrous  race. 

Yes  —  this  "  pertinacity  in  thrusting  the 
Jew  into  English  literature"  proved  a 
stroke  of  genius  which  had  for  its  intent 
and  result  the  social  enfranchisement  of  a 
downtrodden  community. 

Sidonia 's  benevolence,  the  oriental  life 
of  the  Besso  family,  the  impassioned  glori- 
ous poetry  which  tells  of  Palestine,  its 
beauteous  mountains  and  valleys,  its  un- 
equalled fertility  and  variety,  its  extraordi- 
nary history — the  persistency  with  which 


50  Sidonia 

ancient  Jewish  rites  and  customs  are  cele- 
brated with  all  the  dignity,  sublimity, 
simple  grandeur,  and  significance  of  their 
origin — surely  we  honor  Disraeli  for  his 
devotion,  which  the  cold  Aryan  nature 
does  not  appreciate  and  regards  with 
supercilious  complacency. 

The  character  of  Sidonia  is  developed 
as  we  are  introduced  to  him  in  the  early 
chapters  of  Coningsby — "a  man  above 
the  middle  height  and  of  a  distinguished 
air  and  figure ;  pale,  with  an  impressive 
brow  and  dark  eyes  of  great  intelligence. 
Coningsby  had  never  met  or  read  of  any 
one  like  this  chance  companion.  His  sen- 
tences were  so  short,  his  language  so  racy, 
his  voice  rang  so  clear,  his  elocution  was 
so  complete.  On  all  subjects,  his  mind 
seemed  to  be  instructed,  and  his  opinions 
formed.  He  flung  out  a  result  in  a  few 
words  ;  he  solved  with  a  phrase  some  deep 
problem  that  men  muse  over  for  years. 
He  said  many  things  that  were  strange, 
yet  they  immediately  appeared  to  be  true. 
Then,  without  the  slightest  air  of  preten- 
sion or  parade,  he  seemed  to  know  every- 
body as  well  as  everything.  Monarchs, 


Sidonia  51 

statesmen,  authors,  adventurers,  of  all 
descriptions  and  of  all  climes  —  if  their 
names  occurred  in  a  conversation,  he  de- 
scribed them  in  an  epigrammatic  sen- 
tence, or  revealed  their  precise  position, 
character,  calibre,  by  a  curt  dramatic  trait 
—  all  this,  too,  without  any  excitement 
of  manner ;  on  the  contrary  with  repose 
amounting  almost  to  nonchalance.  If  his 
address  had  any  faultiness,  it  was  rather  a 
deficiency  of  earnestness.  A  slight  spirit  of 
mockery  played  over  his  speech  even  when 
you  deemed  him  most  serious ;  you  are 
startled  by  a  sudden  transition  from  pro- 
found thought  to  poignant  sarcasm.  A 
very  singular  freedom  from  passion  and 
prejudice  on  every  topic  might  be  some 
compensation  for  this  want  of  earnest- 
ness— perhaps  was  its  consequence.  .  .  . 
And  yet  throughout  his  whole  conversa- 
tion, not  a  stroke  of  egotism,  not  a  word, 
not  a  circumstance  escaped  him  by  which 
you  could  judge  of  his  position  or  pur- 
poses in  life." 

And  then  this  charming  description  of 
the  thorough  gentleman  and  man  of  the 
world  who  was  of  the  Hebrew  race  and  a 


52  Sidonia 

singular  genius,  ends  in  a  poetical  strain 
— "Sidonia  vaulted  into  his  saddle,  the 
'  Daughter  of  the  Star '  bounded  as  if 
she  scented  the  air  of  the  desert  from 
which  she  and  her  rider  had  alike  sprung 
— and  Coningsby  remained  in  profound 
meditation.  " 


IV 


We  have  a  glimpse  of  Sidonia  in  his 
business  aspect,  but  it  is  when  Tancred 
visits  him  to  secure  a  letter  that  shall  open 
the  doors  of  Syria.  Sidonia's  wealth  is 
not  half  as  serviceable  to  the  traveller 
as  the  patriarchal  gratitude  which  created 
and  maintains  for  the  young  Englishman 
the  affectionate  warmth  greeting  him  in 
Palestine,  and  especially  with  the  hospit- 
able Besso  family. 

At  a  social  gathering  whose  description 
gives  Disraeli's  critics  a  chance  to  be 
amused,  Coningsby  meets  Sidonia.  Now 
if  Disraeli  paints  the  externals  of  a  Syba- 
ritic feast  or  a  loftily  fashionable  coterie 
with  kindness  and  only  occasional  sarcasm, 
he  at  least  appreciates  and  aims  to  sug- 


Sidonia  53 

gest  as  exemplars  the  taste,  refinement, 
and  elegance  in  which  English  luxury  has 
adorned  itself.  A  merciless  Oxford  pro- 
fessor sought  to  libel  the  whole  Jewish 
race  because  Disraeli  detected  his  weak 
spot  and  had  the  spirit  to  publish  it  in 
Lothair. 

Why  has  Disraeli  given  point  to  the 
grandeur  of  the  higher  fashionable  life 
which  was  so  familiar  in  his  own  experi- 
ence, from  the  day  when  the  Countess  of 
Blessington  introduced  him  into  society  ? 
Was  there  perhaps  a  little  gratitude  for 
the  great  service  which  the  fashionable 
world  had  rendered  to  the  friendless  and 
ambitious  writer  ?  Or  was  it  simply  the 
recognition  of  the  political  power  of  Eng- 
lish society  ?  Observe — Sidonia's  stand- 
ing is  due  not  more  to  his  wealth  than 
to  his  possession  of  extraordinary  genius, 
his  wondrous  experience  of  men  and  coun- 
tries, his  pure  descent,  his  superb  asser- 
tion of  his  faith,  his  superiority  in  those 
qualities  which  the  world  recognizes  and 
honors  as  the  attributes  of  the  true  gentle- 
man. May  not  the  novelist  have  sought 
to  vindicate  his  race  from  the  charge  of 


54  Sidonia 

being  underbred  ?  He  depicts  the  glorious 
ancestry  of  the  desert  -  sprung  Hebrew 
—  the  singular  maintenance  of  oriental 
habits  and  rights  and  ennobling  qualities 
of  heart  —  and  then  he  presents  as  the 
contemporaneous  embodiment  of  this  race, 
the  type  of  the  true  man,  Sidonia,  who  is 
cosmopolitan  enough  to  be  welcomed  by 
the  noblest  in  the  land,  who  is  still  the 
unaffected  Jew  that  helped  the  strolling 
players  at  Berg,  that  made  friends  every- 
where in  his  youthful  pilgrimage,  that  won 
the  admiration,  the  homage  of  the  majes- 
tic Bedouin  in  his  tent,  the  princely  Syr- 
ian in  his  palace,  the  humble  follower  at 
the  gate  of  Jerusalem,  because  always  the 
same  simple-hearted  son  of  Abraham ! 
Sidonia,  the  equal  of  the  highest  in  the 
land,  has  not  become  so  by  reason  of  his 
wealth  alone —  he  has  employed  his  means 
in  princely  benefactions — his  hand  and 
heart  are  ever  open — his  connection  with 
vast  financial  interests  is  only  suggested 
as  the  opportunity  of  extending  unusual 
courtesy  and  kindness  to  one  endeared 
by  ties  of  acquaintanceship  with  some 
mutual  friend. 


Sidonia  55 

Sidonia  was  a  Jew  whom  Englishmen, 
not  knowing,  had  despised.  They  can 
be  ignorant  no  longer  of  the  worth,  the 
patriotism,  the  nobility,  the  English 
blood  that  are  concentrated  in  this  typical 
Hebrew. 


To  impress  still  more  powerfully  the 
lesson  he  is  teaching,  the  novelist  in  that 
oft-quoted  chapter  of  Coningsby  deline- 
ates Sidonia's  ancestry  —  their  migration 
from  Arabia  to  Spain  —  their  rise  in  Ar- 
agon  —  their  persecution  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion —  their  exile  —  their  dispersion  over 
Europe  —  their  settlement  in  England. 
It  becomes  necessary  to  explain  the  form- 
ation of  the  individual  character  of  Sidonia 
and  here  we  discern  the  source  of  the 
unfriendly  critic's  annoyance  :  doubtless 
Haman  found  it  painful  and  mortifying 
to  be  steadily  confronted  every  afternoon 
as  he  went  homewards  by  that  rigid  He- 
brew who  would  not  prostrate  himself. 

Sidonia  tells  the  story  of  his  wander- 
ings —  how  in  his  travels,  in  his  important 


56  Sidonia 

affairs,  he  met  the  Jew  everywhere  in 
conspicuous  intellectual  and  political  po- 
sitions. There  is  an  air  of  conscious  dig- 
nity about  the  Jew  in  the  story  which  is 
actually  prophetic.  In  a  sketch  of  a  meet- 
ing of  statesmen  at  Frankfort,  shortly  be- 
fore the  fall  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the 
portraits  of  the  leaders  of  the  council  are 
unmistakably  Jewish.  Did  this  presage 
the  Congress  of  Berlin  with  Beaconsfield 
the  central  figure,  the  declaration  and  main- 
tenance of  religious  liberty  a  momentous 
incident  ? 

Sidonia  has  been  pronounced  too  lofty 
a  conception  of  the  cultured  Jewish  gentle- 
man. We  are  so  habituated  to  the  pain- 
ful experience  of  hearing  and  feeling  even 
in  these  enlightened  days  that  the  Hebrew 
still  "  wears  the  badge  of  his  tribe,"  is  loud, 
ostentatious,  fond  of  display,  that  we  are 
perchance  led  to  forget  that  the  types 
which  so  engross  the  unfriendly  critic's 
attention  are  essentially  of  the  past.  The 
Hebrew  has  learned  to  assimilate  with  his 
associates,  to  practise  the  serenity  and  re- 
pose of  bearing  characteristic  of  the  un- 
affected gentleman.  When,  occasionally, 


Sidonia  57 

we  note  a  departure  from  this  standard, 
it  happens  that  some  pretentious  person, 
whose  finances  have  progressed  at  such  a 
rate  as  to  leave  him  no  time  for  self- 
improvement  or  self-restraint,  has  been 
placed  in  a  position  that  invites  notice  or 
is  accidentally  prominent,  and  he  is  in- 
capable of  representing  even  his  better  self 
—  not  to  mention  the  race  with  which  he 
is  identified.  And  is  the  Hebrew  of  to- 
day superior  in  manners  to  his  neighbor  ? 


VI 


Sidonia  suggests  a  serious  truth  for  He- 
brews more  than  other  men  to  appreciate. 
He  acknowledged  "one  source  of  interest 
—  in  his  descent  and  in  the  fortunes  of 
his  race.  As  firm  in  his  adherence  to 
the  code  of  the  great  Legislator  as  if  the 
trumpet  still  sounded  on  Sinai,  he  might 
have  received  in  the  conviction  of  divine 
favor  an  adequate  compensation  for 
human  persecution.  But  there  were 
other  and  more  terrestrial  considerations 
that  made  Sidonia  proud  of  his  origin, 
and  confident  of  the  future  of  his  kind. 


58  Sidonia 

Sidonia  and  his  brethren  could  claim  a  dis- 
tinction which  the  Saxon  and  the  Greek 
and  the  rest  of  the  Caucasian  nations  had 
forfeited.  The  Hebrew  is  an  unmixed 
race.  An  unmixed  race  of  a  first-rate  or- 
ganization are  the  aristocracy  of  nature." 
The  Hebrews  would  outlive  persecution. 
"  They  had  defied  exile,  massacre,  spolia- 
tion, the  degrading  influence  of  the  con- 
stant pursuit  of  game  ;  they  had  defied 
time." 

The  lofty  tribute  to  Hebrew  genius  and 
character  paid  in  the  person  and  career  of 
Sidonia  is  not  marred  by  the  extravagance 
and  exaggeration  which"  mere  hero  wor- 
ship permits,  excuses,  and  is  even  held  to 
justify.  In  the  portrayal  of  this  Hebrew 
type,  the  novelist  was  aiming  to  correct 
an  untrue  and  unfair  estimate  almost  uni- 
versal in  its  error  and  involving  a  mourn- 
ful, distressing,  and  disastrous  experience 
for  the  race  so  misunderstood.  It  would 
have  been  natural — it  is  the  custom  of 
writers  of  fiction — to  extol  to  the  skies 
every  thought  and  act  of  the  hero — to 
place  him  in  situations  from  which  only 
his  surpassing  astuteness  could  possibly 


Sidonia  59 

extricate  him.  Not  so  with  Sidonia ;  his 
greatness  is  simply  the  result  of  his  origin 
and  his  education.  He  is  a  born  aristocrat 
"  of  an  unmixed  race."  To  form  so  perfect 
and  so  attractive  a  character,  Disraeli  had 
but  to  clothe  in  the  garb  of  an  English 
gentleman  a  Hebrew  who  had  travelled 
the  world  over  and  had  not  forgotten  his 
origin. 

A  recent  novel  by  one  of  the  master 
minds  in  modern  literature  takes  up  a 
type  of  the  Hebrew  race  which  may  con- 
stitute a  parallel  to  Sidonia.  Deronda  is, 
however,  essentially  a  dreamer  —  while 
Sidonia  is  a  man  of  action,  the  man  of  the 
world.  George  Eliot  has  succeeded  in 
emphasizing  the  abhorrence  with  which 
such  a  great  author  naturally  regards  the 
stigma  affixed  to  a  race  that  has  borne  so 
worthy  a  part.  Daniel  Deronda  would 
never  have  existed  but  for  his  sturdier 
comrade  of  Disraeli 's  earlier  novel.  And 
not  readily  can  the  Jewish  race  forget  the 
debt  they  owe  to  the  memory  of  the  won- 
derful woman  who  understood  and  appre- 
ciated the  people  for  whom  Deronda  is 
constructing  a  happy  future ;  the  visions 


60  Sidonia 

of  that  enthusiast  may  never  be  realized, 
but  the  spirit  which  actuated  George 
Eliot  in  vindicating  the  Jew  is  the  spirit 
of  humanity  at  its  highest. 

VII 

Disraeli  has  been  censured  for  making 
the  Jewish  character,  the  Jewish  question 
more  conspicuous  than  the  plot  or  the  ap- 
parent purpose  of  Coningsby  would  seem 
to  warrant.  Writing  of  and  for  a  period 
of  special  political  interest,  Disraeli  took 
up  the  Jewish  question  as  bearing  upon 
at  least  one  serious  problem  claiming  a 
solution.  In  his  preface  to  Lothair, 
he  says :  "  Familiar  as  we  all  are  now 
with  such  themes,  the  house  of  Israel  be- 
ing now  freed  from  the  barbarism  of  me- 
diaeval misconception  and  judged  like  all 
other  races  by  their  contributions  to  the 
existing  sum  of  human  welfare,  and  the 
general  influence  of  race  on  human  action 
being  universally  recognized  as  the  key  of 
history,  the  difficulty  and  hazard  of  touch- 
ing for  the  first  time  on  such  topics  can- 
not now  be  easily  appreciated." 


Sidonia  61 

And  in  proportion  as  their  difficulty  is 
appreciated  by  the  Jewish  people  of  to-day, 
will  be  their  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
brilliant  author  who  started  in  life  with 
the  world  against  him,  and  whose  noble 
aim,  the  vindication,  the  intellectual  enfran- 
chisement of  his  race,  was  generously,  com- 
pletely, triumphantly  realized  as  he  sat,  an 
English  Earl,  at  the  Congress  of  Berlin, 
and  made  religious  liberty  for  all  a  condi- 
tion of  the  recognition  of  the  only  sover- 
eignty in  Europe  that  then  persecuted 
the  Hebrew. 


LOYALTY1 

FIDELITY  is  the  secret  of  the  world's  pro- 
gress. Devotion  to  duty,  devotion  to  an 
idea,  devotion  to  humanity,  devotion  to 
God — this  explains  half  the  mysteries  of 
history :  devotion  to  self  will  account  for 
the  rest. 

Loyalty  is  a  sentiment,  an  education,  a 
motive  -  power  that  was  comprehended 
even  in  the  Patriarchal  times  when  Abra- 
ham's servant  left  Mesopotamia  in  quest 
of  a  wife  for  Isaac.  Eliezer  was  simply  a 
steward  who  loved  his  master  —  faithful  in 
his  house;  he  undertook  a  difficult  task 
and  accomplished  it.  Rebecca's  deed  at 
the  well  completes  the  picture — as  fine  a 
study  of  chivalry  as  the  troubadour  would 
have  chanted. 

In  these  days  of  independent  thought, 
of  insolent  self-assertion,  of  hourly  dis- 
covery— although  the  "  new  idea  "  is  often 

1  Delivered  before  the  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Association, 
November  30,  1879. 


Loyalty  63 

an  ancient  one  in  modern  guise, — loyalty  is 
still  honored  even  by  the  inferior  ten 
thousand.  The  single-hearted  Professor 
whose  fidelity  to  science,  to  truth,  made 
of  him  a  hero — a  demigod  he  would 
have  been  in  the  Grecian  era — "had  no 
time  to  make  money  ! "  And  this  grand, 
characteristic  declaration  was  admired,  ap- 
plauded, by  the  masses  whom  we  believed 
insensible  to  the  finer  motives,  just  as  the 
world  weeps  over  the  story  of  Damon  and 
Pythias,  of  David  and  Jonathan;  such  loyal 
friendship  is  a  revelation. 

So  the  world  is  kinder  and  better  than 
you  might  imagine  from  a  study  of  Wall 
Street,  where  everybody  is  on  the  look  out 
for  a  weak  spot  in  his  neighbor's  armor 
and  ready  to  let  his  arrow  fly  that  shall 
smite  to  the  death. 

The  danger  for  American  youth  is  that 
loyalty  shall  become  a  mere  sentiment 
and  not  be  part  of  their  very  nature,  their 
better  self. 

How  shall  we  define  loyalty?  We  may 
consider  it  in  several  relations — as  between 
man  and  man,  between  man  and  the  state, 
aye — as  between  man  and  the  Deity. 


64  Loyalty 

We  must  define  it  by  another  word — 
fidelity.  Be  loyal  and  true,  be  faithful  and 
true.  And  most  beautiful  of  mottoes  is 
this  one  word — -fideliter.  Proudly  has  it 
been  borne  by  great  nobles  in  many  lands. 
Older  than  any  order  of  nobility  is  the 
word  as  applied  to  Abraham — faithfulness 
was  his  motto,  Emuno  was  upon  his  es- 
cutcheon, and  even  in  that  primitive  age 
he  understood  and  practised  it.  Loyalty 
comprehends  something  besides  and  above 
patriotism — fidelity  to  truth  and  right  even 
though  in  conflict  with  our  country's  pol- 
icy. The  great  orator  of  the  West  used 
to  say,  "  My  country— Bright  or  wrong." 
This  may  be  patriotism — indeed,  it  does 
not  rise  above  partisanship  —  but  it  is  not 
loyalty,  whose  declaration  would  be:  "My 
country — she  shall  be  always  right."  The 
Briton  recites  the  old  fiction,  "  The  King 
can  do  no  wrong,"  but  loyalty  to  a  Charles 
the  Second  was  no  proof  of  sterling  pa- 
triotism. Parties,  historians,  kings  them- 
selves, make  free  with  the  reputation  of 
the  practical  chiefs  of  the  administration, 
however,  and  discover  who  are  capable  of 
doing  the  wrong  published  in  the  sover- 


Loyalty  65 

eign's  name,  and  even  kings  are  as  un- 
grateful as  republics. 

Loyalty  is,  strictly  speaking,  identified 
with  man's  attachment  to  the  State  as  the 
universal  parent  of  its  citizens — as  the 
head  of  the  great  family.  It  is  a  higher 
law  which  when  the  State  is  faithless  to 
humanity  and  justice  underlies  the  right 
of  revolution,  excuses  passive  and  active 
resistance,  and  has  led  to  martyrdom 
which  after  ages  extol. 

So  far  as  loyalty  implies  obedience  to 
the  highest  authority  in  a  State,  it  has 
indeed  been  abused — enormities  have 
been  committed  in  its  name  as  excesses 
have  been  justified  in  the  name  of  lib- 
erty. 

Devotion  to  the  person  of  a  sovereign 
has  been  construed  to  extend  to  obedi- 
ence to  the  royal  mandate  even  as  far  as 
assassination,  and  actual  treason  to  the 
State.  In  the  confusion  of  ideas  and 
obligations  that  led  to  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  the  horrors  of  the 
Crusades,  the  persecutions  of  the  Albi- 
genses  and  the  Jews,  fanaticism,  gross 
superstitious  attachment  to  Church  as 


66  Loyalty 

united  with  the  State,  was  mistaken,  oh ! 
so  terribly  !  for  loyalty. 

In  modern  times,  in  our  own  country, 
a  study  of  loyalty  becomes  useful  and 
important.  Taking  history  as  our  guide, 
we  shall  find  that  its  embodiment  is 
recognized  in  Holy  Writ,  as  the  highest 
human  type.  When  the  Revelation 
on  Sinai 's  Mount  was  understood  by 
the  assembled  people,  the  response  was 
unanimous — "  We  hear  and  shall  obey." 
When  rebellion  against  the  theocracy 
raised  its  head,  the  sturdy  chieftain 
Joshua  called  to  his  side  the  loyal 
thousands — "  I  and  my  household  shall 
serve  the  Lord  " — as  Moses  had  already 
tested  the  fidelity  of  the  tribe  of  Levi — 
"Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side?"  Samuel 
subsequently  echoed  the  same  spirit  of 
devotion  to  the  highest  principle  ;  through- 
out the  prophetic  writings,  it  is  "  my  faith- 
ful servant "  that  is  at  once  approved  by 
God  and  revered  by  mankind :  a  striking 
picture  depicted  by  Milton  —  that  of  Ab- 
diel  "  faithful  among  the  faithless." 

Seeking  from  the  Bible,  again,  au- 
thority for  the  conception  of  fidelity  I 


Loyalty  67 

would  set  before  you,  we  find  this  admoni- 
tion: "  Honor  thy  parents — but  my  Sab- 
bath thou  shalt  keep."  So  that  we  learn 
of  a  higher  loyalty  than  that  which  binds 
man  to  man  —  which  implies  devotion  to 
the  family  chief  —  to  the  State  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  family. 

In  the  ages  of  Grecian  and  of  Roman 
supremacy,  the  greatest  test  of  citizenship 
was  self-sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  country. 
And  yet  Socrates,  who,  seeing  beyond  the 
narrow  confines  of  a  Grecian  State,  con- 
ceived of  man 's  duty  as  in  conflict  with 
cruelty  or  duplicity  commanded  by  the 
government  for  its  or  the  popular  interest, 
was  at  the  period  of  Athens'  greatest  de- 
velopment condemned  for  corrupting  the 
youth  by  such  teachings.  Aristides  was 
ostracized  because  the  people  were  tired  of 
hearing  him  called  "the  just"  —  because 
he  thought  loyalty  to  the  ideal  govern- 
ment a  higher  motive  than  the  gratifica- 
tion of  an  ignorant  or  capricious  public 
opinion.  In  the  stern,  brave  Roman  who 
rescued  his  country  from  the  Tarquins  — 
Cato,  inflexible,  severe,  and  wise — Brutus 
who  in  the  conspiracy  against  Caesar  had 


68  Loyalty 

no  motive  but  the  safety  of  the  republic, 
the  liberties  of  the  people  —  we  find  the 
recognition  of  loyalty  as  a  principle  which 
ascended  above  the  present  moment, 
party,  authority  —  which  even  contem- 
plated the  enfranchisement  of  the  State 
from  moral  servitude  and  weakness,  and 
subordinated  self  to  a  patriotic  devotion, 
that  identified  country  with  God. 

How  Demosthenes  thundered  his  phi- 
lippics !  How  he  stimulated  his  country- 
men to  renewed  and  united  exertions 
against  the  invader !  How  powerfully 
spoke  Cicero  against  official  maladmin- 
istration, against  corruption  which  had 
become  a  byword  !  Neither  of  these  con- 
summate orators,  whose  contemporary 
power  the  world  beheld  with  admiration, 
can  attain  the  niche  in  the  Temple  of 
Fame  reserved  for  the  types  of  fidelity  to 
the  State,  to  truth.  Indeed  we  may  claim 
for  modern  times  several  examples  of  mag- 
nificent oratorical  power  wedded  to  su- 
perb efforts  for  country,  for  God,  that 
leave  the  renowned  orators  of  antiquity 
far  behind.  Burke,  Pitt,  Fox  in  England ; 
Savonarola  in  Italy  ;  Luther  in  Germany  ; 


Loyalty  69 

Webster  in  America  —  although  their  loy- 
alty was  manifested  in  greater  or  less  de- 
gree—  united  marvellous  grace  and  skill 
as  orators  with  a  lofty  conception  of  the 
patriot's  highest  duty.  It  was  well  for 
Cicero,  who,  as  Mr.  Curtis  says,  "under- 
stood himself  and  the  people  among  whom 
he  lived,"  to  urge  "  Virtue  itself  can  de- 
sire no  greater  reward  for  labors  and  perils 
than  the  reward  of  praise  and  glory." 
The  State  in  Cicero  's  age  had  "  constitu- 
tions, power,  wealth,  culture,  letters,  arts, 
—  but  in  all  that  splendid  civilization 
there  was  no  higher  individual  mo- 
tive than  the  love  of  personal  distinc- 
tion." 

Men  can  be  moved  to  loyalty.  It  re- 
quires a  rare  occasion  to  elicit  in  our  com- 
paratively cold  country  a  universal  loyal 
expression.  When  the  flag  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter  was  first  fired  upon,  the  sentiment 
of  love  for  country  displayed  itself  through- 
out the  North — no  sacrifice  was  too  great, 
loyalty  was  the  rule ;  and  yet,  so  cool 
and  calculating  are  some  that  within  a 
week  "  leading  "  merchants  were  effecting 
combinations  whereby  they  could  make 


70  Loyalty 

princely  fortunes  out  of  rotten  hulks  and 
shoddy  fabrics  ! 

Rarely  in  the  world's  history  has  rever- 
ential loyalty  been  more  grandly  demon- 
strated than  in  that  memorable  scene  at 
Philadelphia,  when  Hancock  signed  the 
immortal  Declaration.  Nevertheless  when 
the  armies  of  Washington  were  freezing 
at  Valley  Forge — time  of  sorest  trial  for 
the  young  republic, — then,  says  the  indig- 
nant patriot,  speaking  of  a  miscalled  loy- 
alist, *'  this  man  was  crying  '  beef !  beef ! ' 
through  the  camp,"  taking  advantage  of 
the  dire  necessities  of  the  soldiers. 

Can  it  be  that  we  require  the  fiction  of 
a  hereditary  sovereign  to  stimulate  us  to 
constant  unalterable  loyalty?  In  no  body 
of  Americans  is  there  greater  need  of 
sleepless  loyalty  than  among  Israelite 
young  men.  For  us,  fidelity  comprehends 
at  once  the  highest  embodiment  of  rever- 
ential obedience  to  divine  authority,  to  the 
typical  family,  to  brethren  who  are  even 
in  this  land  singled  out  for  social  ostracism. 
Faithful  to  the  imperishable  record  of  our 
race,  we  must  of  necessity  be  patriots, 
seeking  the  peace  of  the  land  wherein 


Loyalty  71 

we  dwell.  True  to  ourselves,  we  cannot 
if  we  would,  evade  the  responsibility  im- 
posed upon  us  because  of  fellow-Israelites 
to  be  helped  on  the  way  to  citizen- 
ship. Unfriendly  critics  begin  to  under- 
stand that  upon  the  Bible  rests  the 
safety,  the  happiness,  the  elevation  of 
society.  We  should,  of  all  men,  cherish 
the  Bible — study  it,  strive  to  understand 
it,  and  to  practise  its  precepts. 

Are  we  loyal  to  the  spirit  which  founded 
this  association  ?  Have  we  swerved  from 
the  simple  direct  path  which  seemed  to 
lie  before  us  as  we  began  the  work? 
That  was  a  fair,  staunch  vessel,  that 
suddenly  experienced  a  dreadful  shock 
foreboding  destruction — the  iceberg  was 
upon  it  with  startling  force — the  men 
whose  duty  it  was  to  look  out  were 
reckless  and  inattentive — imperilling  the 
lives  of  hundreds.  Even  the  staunchest 
ship  were  in  imminent  danger  if  the 
pilot,  the  lookout  in  whom  we  trust, 
prove  recreant,  disloyal.  Shall  the 
parallel  be  drawn  for  you  ?  No,  you 
will  think  it  out  for  yourselves.  This 
society  shall  be  found  well-manned — its 


72  Loyalty 

officers  and  crew  ever  vigilant — it  will 
safely  withstand  the  chilly  atmosphere 
of  indifference,  the  shock  of  icebergs 
met  unexpectedly,  even  in  these  parts. 
True  to  duty  we  shall  ride  proudly  over 
sea  into  port, — making  life  more  cheer- 
ful, more  useful,  more  serviceable  to  gen- 
erations to  come.  We  owe  it  to  our 
race  training  to  be  loyal  to  the  higher 
duty  of  life — to  be  superior  to  the 
pseudo-equality  which  tends  to  make 
of  Americans  mere  money-seekers.  It 
never  was  true  that  the  Hebrews  lived 
exclusively  for  wealth,  although  for  ages 
it  has  been  maintained  that  our  race 
was  merely  avaricious.  When  Solomon 
was  awarded  what  he  most  desired,  he 
asked  not  for  wealth,  but  for  wisdom.  Wis- 
dom seemed  to  draw  in  its  train,  however, 
all  that  man  could  desire  and  more  than 
was  good  for  him. 

In  this  republic,  since  the  time  of  the 
war  with  its  boundless  extravagance,  and 
its  false  notions  of  happiness  and  suc- 
cess, the  ambition  of  each  parent  and 
each  child  is  to  become  as  rich  as  his 
neighbor — or  at  least  to  seem  as  wealthy. 


Loyalty  73 

Hence  follows  a  succession  of  woes  and 
follies  and  disasters.  Among  the  greatest 
of  Americans,  after  all,  was  that  pro- 
fessor I  have  mentioned,  who  sincerely 
and  loyally  loved  science,  and  despised 
mere  money-making.  May  he  have  many 
disciples ! 

It  is  permitted  here,  among  ourselves, 
to  suggest  that  the  secret  of  the  ostracism 
we  hear  about  was  a  love  of  display,  the 
faithlessness  of  Israelites  to  their  race 
and  its  responsibilities.  The  exclusive 
hotel-keeper  was  but  the  bold  interpreter 
of  the  secret  oracle  of  society  which,  arro- 
gant and  ridiculous  as  it  is,  cannot  tolerate 
vulgar  pretensions  in  another  class. 

I  claim  that  we  should  be  superior  to 
the  wish  to  rank  with  the  shoddy  society 
that  patronizes  the  fashionable  watering- 
place  hotel.  There  is  no  grandeur,  no 
virtue,  no  real  power  that  outlives  a  day 
in  society  which  worships  the  old  idol  of 
the  molten  calf — whether  of  gold  or  base 
metal. 

And  this  brings  us  back  by  associa- 
tion of  ideas  to  the  contrast  between  the 
shortsighted  men  and  women  of  Israel  car- 


74  Loyalty 

ried  away  by  the  glitter,  the  show,  the 
gaudy  extravagance  of  idol-worship  in 
their  day — and  the  seer  Moses,  the  exceed- 
ingly meek  man,  who  expounded  God's 
word  which  made  all  equal  in  the  only 
sense  that  can  permanently  elevate  human- 
ity, the  recognition  of  the  Father  whom 
we  shall  honor  in  fidelity  and  sincerity  by 
loyally  loving  our  neighbor,  and  the  truth. 
"Hear  the  conclusion  of  the  matter — fear 
God  and  keep  His  commandments — such 
is  the  whole  duty  of  man." 

And  we  must  do  our  duty,  despite  the 
fact  that  the  world  fails  to  appreciate  us, 
as  we  suppose.  If  we"  find  men  of  little 
claim  to  respect  or  consideration  success- 
ful or  accorded  distinctive  honor,  we  must 
not  on  that  account  be  recreant.  It  was 
said  of  a  late  Justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  that  "  to  do  what  he  felt 
to  be  right,  to  do  it  bravely  and  disinter- 
estedly when  he  was  called  upon  to  make 
sacrifices,  without  the  smallest  regard  to 
the  opinions  of  men,  when  the  thought  of 
their  opinions  might  have  deterred  him, 
became  the  habit  of  his  life." 

Happy  shall  we  be  in  our  surroundings, 


Loyalty  75 

in  our  age,  when  loyalty  shall  again  con- 
stitute part  of  the  very  nature  of  men,  the 
habit  of  their  lives. 


AN   ANCIENT   GRUDGE1 

HISTORY  proclaims  the  greatness  of  a 
race  whose  loyalty  to  truth,  to  the  divine 
mission  has  aided  primarily  the  cause  of 
civilization.  Strange  fatuity  that  has  ap- 
parently declared  it  part  of  the  duty  of 
the  civilized  world  to  deny  to  the  Hebrew 
the  simple  reward  of  recognition!  En- 
titled to  honor,  respect,  appreciation,  he 
has  met  contumely,  insult,  persecution. 

The  survival  of  the"  Hebrew  race  is  a 
marvellous  fact.  There  is  no  parallel  in 
history.  "A  pure  unmixed  race  of  first- 
rate  organization,"  says  Disraeli,  "must 
rule  the  world."  While  this  may  be  true 
in  the  broader  sense,  how  many  centuries 
of  misconception  have  disputed  the  right 
of  the  Hebrew  to  simple  equality  before 
the  law  !  And  the  Hebrew  who  has  his- 
tory and  courage  for  defence  repays  the 
injustice  of  ages  by  fidelity  to  his  mission, 

'Delivered  before  the  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Association, 
January  29,  1881. 

76 


An  Ancient  Grudge  77 

"  Thanks  chiefly,"  says  George  Eliot,  "  to 
the  divine  gift  of  a  memory  which  inspires 
the  moments  with  a  past,  a  present,  and  a 
future." 

Thus  "  he  feeds  fat  the  ancient  grudge  " 
borne  against  him  by  the  ephemeral 
peoples  of  the  Old  World  and  nobly  and 
patiently  awaits  his  justification,  trusting 
to  God  "  in  whose  sight  a  thousand  years 
are  as  yesterday  which  is  past — as  a  watch 
in  the  night." 

The  misconception  of  Jewish  char- 
acter, the  injustice  done  to  the  race,  the 
extraordinary  burden  weighing  upon  the 
individual,  were  the  reflection  of  mediae- 
val incapacity  to  appreciate  a  distinctive 
people  of  superior  intellectual  force. 

This  legacy  of  the  middle  ages  has  not 
lapsed  with  feudalism,  which  created  and 
intensified  the  reign  of  might  over  right. 

It  has  taken  centuries  to  substitute,  in 
religion  as  in  politics,  modern  fairness 
and  thought  for  craft  and  brute  force. 
We  cease  to  be  surprised  at  the  record  of 
popular  riot  and  persecution  in  peaceful 
cities  along  the  Rhine  five  or  six  centuries 
ago,  when  only  thirty  years  have  passed 


78  An  Ancient  Grudge 

away  since  a  Hebrew  born  in  a  German  city 
could  not  marry  or  adopt  a  trade  save  by 
grace  of  the  authorities.  Can  we  wonder 
at  Peter  the  Hermit  leading  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  brigand  barons  and  ignorant 
peasants  in  a  crusade  for  Jerusalem  and 
against  the  Jews  who  lived  on  the  road 
through  Europe,  when  we  have  lately 
seen  in  this  fair  land  a  hotel-keeper  dare 
to  exclude  Jews  from  the  privileges  of 
public  hospitality,  and  in  the  stately  capi- 
tal of  enlightened  Germany  unoffending 
Jews  assaulted  in  the  streets  ? 

The  complete  emancipation  of  the  Jews 
has  been  delayed  by  popular  prejudice,  the 
result  of  bigotry  and  of  imperfect  infor- 
mation respecting  the  race,  and  formed  by 
illiberal  writings.  The  mediaeval  Church 
sought  to  extirpate  Judaism  by  fire  and 
sword— the  Church  to-day,  where  the  State 
has  not  disestablished  it,  succeeds  in  de- 
laying religious  liberty;  and  in  some 
lands  the  Church,  where  the  State  has  pro- 
claimed equality  for  all  creeds,  still  seeks 
to  hinder  the  recognition  of  the  Jew  as  a 
man,  a  citizen. 

No  power   could  successfully  contend 


An  Ancient  Grudge  79 

with  the  Church  when  the  Pope  was  the 
dispenser  of  crowns — the  source  of  na- 
tional liberty  or  slavery.  A  King  of  Eng- 
land trembled  before  the  Archbishop  who 
represented  the  Vatican  —  Charlemagne 
was  its  vassal,  as  his  successors  were  its 
willing  serfs ;  the  German  princes  who 
strove  to  assert  their  independence  were 
crowded  out  by  the  obedient  elector  and 
count  who  did  the  bidding  of  their  Italian 
master.  The  Church  was  the  only  edu- 
cator, and  the  masses  were  designedly 
maintained  in  ignorance.  The  great  rob- 
ber chieftain  worshipped  "a  piece  of  the 
true  cross  " — the  serfs  in  his  domains  be- 
gan to  believe  in  him  as  the  power  which 
could  make  or  mar  them  here  and  to 
eternity. 

The  student  is  fairly  overwhelmed  by 
the  wealth  of  materials  upon  which  to 
draw  in  support  of  the  position  that  the 
educational  influences  moving  the  world 
were  systematically  unjust  and  falsely  di- 
rected in  establishing  the  place  of  the  Jew 
and  Judaism.  And  great  thinkers  of  to- 
day have  only  begun  to  comprehend 
the  inexhaustible  resources  at  command. 


8o  An  Ancient  Grudge 

Milman,  Draper,  Lecky,  Simon,  Renan, 
Buckle,  and  Froude  have  especially  dis- 
played candor  and  earnest  industry  in 
exposing  the  untruths  and  injustice  of  cen- 
turies. They  have  barely  touched  upon 
the  point  which  for  the  moment  concerns 
us,  but  their  testimony  is  clear,  convinc- 
ing, and  damning. 

Our  honored  Jewish  authors,  Zunz, 
Jost,  Graetz,  Geiger,  Munk,  Kayserling, 
Franck,  Raphall,  and  many  others,  have 
grouped  the  materials  for  Jewish  history 
and  have  prepared  the  way  for  a  truer 
appreciation  of  Jewish  character. 

In  this  conflict  between  might  and  right 
what  was  the  place  of  the  Jew? 

Feudalism  with  brute  force  for  its  in- 
spiration eagerly  clasped  hands  with  the 
fanaticism  of  the  Church  and  retained  its 
power  to  repress  liberty  and  to  enslave 
intellect,  even  after  its  religious  instructor 
had  been  dethroned  from  its  once  undis- 
puted sovereignty  over  the  European 
mind.  The  Jew  was  regarded  as  a  being 
bereft  of  the  natural  rights  of  man,  a 
dog  to  spit  upon,  a  money  chest  to  rob,  a 
creature  restrained  of  liberty  to  breathe 


An  Ancient  Grudge  81 

the  air  of  Heaven,  to  move  beyond  the 
Ghetto. 

Ah !  but  feudalism  and  the  Church 
could  not  deprive  the  Jew  of  the  right  to 
think — to  maintain  the  purity  of  domestic 
life — to  preserve  the  race  character,  the 
traditions  and  the  discoveries  of  his  an- 
cestry as  a  heritage  for  coming  genera- 
tions !  The  place  of  the  Jew  was  to  keep 
alive  in  at  least  some  portion  of  the  hu- 
man race  the  instincts  of  manhood,  the 
divine  spark  which  neither  Church  nor 
State  deemed  compatible  with  policy  or 
power. 

How  generously,  how  nobly  the  He- 
brews confined  within  the  precincts  of  the 
dreadful  Ghetto  acquitted  themselves 
of  their  duty  to  God  and  posterity,  is 
proved  by  their  literary  works,  remarkable 
for  lofty  sentiment,  mastery  of  details,  ex- 
tent of  learning,  for  evidence  of  genius, 
for  grasp  of  varied  and  recondite  topics, 
and  by  their  records  of  humble  devotion 
to  their  creed,  which  implied  degradation, 
persecution,  and  martyrdom ;  by  the  en- 
couragement of  science,  the  impetus  given 
to  inquiry,  culminating  in  the  so-called 


82  An  Ancient  Grudge 

revival  of  learning  that  marked  the  dawn 
of  the  modern  era. 

Strange  that  Luther  should  have  owed 
so  much  to  Jewish  thought  and  example, 
in  the  study,  zeal,  and  courage  which  im- 
pelled him  to  expose  the  abuses  com- 
mitted in  the  name  of  religion — and  that 
the  German  church  which  he  founded 
should  prove  at  this  day  the  champion  of 
mediaeval  ideas. 

Shall  I  remind  you  of  the  record  of 
middle  age  barbarity  and  Jewish  life  in  al- 
most every  section  of  Europe  ?  Russia, 
indeed,  had  not  yet  emerged  from  the 
utterly  savage  state — things  are  slow  of 
development  in  that  Empire — but  she  had 
recently  attained  the  point  in  progress 
marked  by  the  persecution  of  the  Jews, 
and  in  Roumania  and  Servia,  under  her 
tuition,  the  legal  mob  outdid  the  bravest 
of  the  Rhenish  barons. 

The  Christian  nations  of  Europe  vied 
in  ill-treating  the  Jews.  There  was  no 
disguise  as  to  the  pretext.  In  many  cities 
and  villages,  the  annual  visits  of  the 
monks  at  the  Easter  season  were  the  sig- 
nals for  violence.  At  one  French  market 


An  Ancient  Grudge  83 

town  the  preacher  would  say  on  Good 
Friday,  "  You  have  around  you  those  who 
crucified  the  Messiah — now  is  the  time 
when  you  should  feel  most  deeply  the 
iniquity.  This  is  the  day  on  which  our 
Prince  has  graciously  given  us  permission 
to  avenge  this  crime.  Like  your  pious 
ancestors,  hurl  stones  at  the  Jews,  and 
show  your  sense  of  the  wrong  by  the  rigor 
with  which  you  resent  it."  At  another 
place,  the  preacher  would  cry  out  to  the 
Jews,  "  Wretches,  your  sins  have  come 
upon  you ! "  and  the  populace  would 
accept  this  as  a  hint  to  pillage  and  to 
murder. 

During  the  Crusades  and  later,  Metz, 
Spires,  Worms,  Frankfort,  Cologne,  Nu- 
remberg, Prague — every  thriving  town 
was  the  funeral  pyre  of  the  unhappy  Jews. 

An  earthquake  was  laid  at  their  door — 
it  was  they  that  poisoned  wells,  spread 
the  plague,  drowned  young  maidens,  mur- 
dered children,  stabbed  the  consecrated 
wafer,  mutilated  the  crucifix,  and,  horribile 
dictu!  studied  the  Talmud.  At  one 
time  a  tremendous  bonfire  was  kindled 
of  twenty-four  great  cartloads  of  volumes 


84  An  Ancient  Grudge 

of  the  Talmud.  Ah  !  the  disastrous  re- 
cord of  those  troublous  times  ! 

All  the  while  the  Jews  were  working 
quietly  at  their  callings.  Many,  being 
thrifty  artisans  or  tradesmen,  saved  money 
which  they  loaned  to  the  kings,  barons, 
and  cities.  Decree  after  decree  confis- 
cated their  just  claims,  and  they  were  held 
fortunate  if  their  lives  were  spared  when 
they  presumed  to  ask  payment  of  debts 
honestly  due.  They  were  skilful  in  the 
vineyards  of  Burgundy,  adepts  at  Italian 
and  Flemish  manufactures  —  but  every- 
where they  were  denied  the  reward  of  in- 
dustry, because  the  priest  would  persist 
in  teaching  of  the  "  passion  "  and  thus  in- 
tensify the  hatred,  the  ancient,  terrible 
grudge.  Year  after  year,  they  shut  them- 
selves up  in  their  houses,  their  quarter, 
but  only  to  draw  out  the  concentrated 
fury  of  the  populace.  The  synagogue 
wherein  they  took  refuge  was  the  scene 
of  carnage.  On  the  merest  suspicion, 
hundreds  were  led  to  the  stake. 

The  only  bright  spot  in  Europe  was 
where  the  followers  of  Mohammed  had 
made  a  stand  from  Constantinople  along 


An  Ancient  Grudge  85 

the  Mediterranean  and  in  the  Iberian 
peninsula.  And  when  the  Moors  were 
finally  vanquished  by  the  Christians  of 
Spain,  the  Jews,  who  had  fought  valiantly 
and  who  were  the  scholars  and  the  mer- 
chants of  the  great  cities,  soon  learned 
how  the  gentle  Christians  put  into  prac- 
tice the  lessons  of  love  they  professed. 
Grand  was  the  record  for  centuries,  de- 
plorable the  final  scenes, — the  exile  that 
year  of  Columbus'  voyage  to  the  New 
World. 

The  popular  prejudice  against  the  Jew 
had  found  its  way  through  the  Church 
into  the  very  nurseries,  and  was  indelibly 
stamped  upon  the  infant  literature  of 
modern  Europe. 

"  And  all  the  evil,"  says  Milman,  "which 
the  people  said  and  thought  of  the  Jews 
during  the  Middle  Ages  seems  concen- 
trated in  Shylock." 

Remember  that  the  Jews  mainly  intro- 
duced into  Europe  Greek  philosophy  in 
its  Arabian  dress — and  bore  an  important 
part  in  the  revival  of  learning.  The  old 
Jewish  printers  of  Amsterdam,  Leghorn, 
Venice,  and  other  places,  were  distin- 


86  An  Ancient  Grudge 

guished  for  the  perfection  of  their  work. 
Strange  that  the  literature  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries  almost  uni- 
formly, when  there  is  a  passing  reference 
to  the  race,  or  where  the  author  is  con- 
strained to  dwell  upon  an  individual 
Israelite,  denies  the  right  of  impartial 
criticism,  and  condemns  the  Jew  to  the 
pillory  of  public  opinion  ! 

Singularly  characteristic  of  the  world's 
injustice  to  the  Jew  is  the  portrait  of 
Shylock. 

The  poetry  of  Southern  Europe  has 
given  birth  to  many  delightful  and  subtle 
fancies.  The  unparalleled  genius  of 
Shakespeare  seemed  powerless  to  create 
a  plot  charming  or  mysterious — intensely 
tragic  or  deliciously  idyllic.  The  fertile 
brain  of  the  airy  trifler  of  Florence  or  of 
Genoa,  of  Pisa  or  of  Venice,  was  destined 
to  weave  immortal  pictures  when  framed 
in  the  glowing,  lifelike,  enduring  diction 
of  the  Master. 

It  may  seem  sacrilege  to  indicate  any 
weakness  in  this  wondrous  poet  who  was 
not  for  an  age  but  for  all  time ;  cosmo- 
polite though  an  Englishman  born.  And 


An  Ancient  Grudge  87 

yet  one  may  venture  to  say  this  :  that  the 
mightiest  burst  of  oratory  designed  to  lure 
a  people  to  madness,  is  less  Roman  than 
it  is  human ;  the  majestic  Lear  is  not  a 
mere  Briton  save  in  the  habiliments  we 
fancy  to  correspond  with  bits  of  descrip- 
tion ;  there  are  anachronisms  in  many  of 
the  plays,  do  we  care  to  seek  for  faults  or 
to  forget  the  superabundance  of  generous 
wealth  of  imagery  and  the  lifelike  por- 
traiture of  undying  heroes. 

Shakespeare  wrote  for  the  court  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  he  did  not  rise 
above  the  prejudices,  the  prepossessions 
of  his  time. 

The  blow  he  dealt  at  the  Jewish  race 
nearly  three  centuries  have  failed  to  over- 
come. His  matchless  powers  have  em- 
phasized the  hate  which  the  coxcombs  and 
the  magistrates  of  Venice  unitedly  mani- 
fested. His  Shylock  became  a  type,  and 
the  world  believes  in  it  as  earnestly  as  in 
any  other  prejudice,  and  the  magic  of  the 
poet's  name  has  sufficed  to  mislead  the 
truth-seeker,  the  candid,  and  the  kind- 
hearted  alike. 

And  Shylock  as  Shakespeare  drew  him 


88  An  Ancient  Grudge 

is  not  altogether  mean— there  is  some 
dignity  in  the  picture  despite  the  vigor 
with  which  the  artist  has  thrown  in  those 
dark  and  glowing  touches  o'ershadowing 
the  true  man  who  is  perforce  to  live  an 
untrue  life. 

The  Shylock  of  Shakespeare  is  the  only 
Jew  Englishmen  would  have  recognized 
in  his  day.  Jews  in  England  were  then 
very  few.  It  was  years  after  Shake- 
speare's death  that  their  exiled  brethren 
were  invited  by  Cromwell  to  share  the 
fortunes  of  the  Commonwealth.  But  the 
Court  knew  by  observation  or  hearsay  of 
the  Lombards  and  the  Jews  who  in  that 
age  nearly  monopolized  the  business  ven- 
tures centring  in  Italian  cities. 

So  the  merchant  who  encouraged  en- 
terprise by  loans  of  capital  was  despised 
because  he  dared  to  feel  superior  by  vir- 
tue of  his  thrift  and  seriousness  to  the 
frivolity,  extravagance,  and  wildness  of  the 
nobles  who  were  likely  to  be  the  comrades 
of  travelled  Englishmen.  And  "  oft  on 
the  Rialto  "  way  the  young  travellers  have 
joined  Gratiano  and  Lorenzo  in  their  sneer 
at  Shylock  and  Tubal,  who  wore  the  ga- 


An  Ancient  Grudge  89 

berdine  and  were  spurned  and  spat  upon, 
and  were  known  only  as  usurers  and  ene- 
mies of  the  Christian.  "  Let  not  the 
sound  of  shallow  foppery  enter  my  sober 
house  ! " 

Such  was  the  home  life  of  the  Venetian 
Jew  whom  his  neighbors  could  not  under- 
stand. Here  as  everywhere  the  Jewish 
home  was  the  abode  of  simplicity  and 
purity,  though  the  palaces,  streets,  and 
plazas  of  Venice  were  scenes  of  nightly 
riot  and  debauchery. 

And  Shakespeare,  never  having  seen  a 
Jewess,  depicted  Jessica  as  a  silly,  frivo- 
lous damsel,  delighted  to  have  attracted 
the  notice  of  the  Venetian  gallant, 
ashamed  of  her  stern  father  whom  the 
chronicler  could  paint  only  in  his  Rialto 
garb,  but  whom  we  know  better  as  un- 
bending in  the  intimacy  of  home.  The 
Jessica  of  Shakespeare  was  never  the 
daughter  of  a  Jewess.  A  disobedient 
daughter  ashamed  of  her  lineage  is  a 
rarity  in  Israel.  But  for  centuries,  the 
only  Jew  the  world  comprehended  was 
Shylock  at  his  worst,  cruel,  vindictive, 
mean,  thinking  more  of  his  ducats  than 


QO  An  Ancient  Grudge 

of  his  daughter's  honor,  and  Jessica  was 
just  the  child  such  a  father  was  likely  to 
lose. 

"What  heinous  sin  is  it  in  me, 

To  be  ashamed  to  be  my  father's  child  ? 
But  though  I  am  a  daughter  to  his  blood, 
I  am  not  to  his  manners." 

And  later  the  only  Jew  the  stage  or 
fiction  knew  was  a  modified  study  of  Shy- 
lock  in  costume,  until  Lessing  nobly  vin- 
dicated letters  by  his  beautiful  creation  of 
"  Nathan  the  Wise "  and  in  turn  Bern- 
stein, Auerbach,  Mosenthal,  Kompert,  and 
others  of  the  Hebrew  race  have  impressed 
their  sense  of  duty  upon  the  productions 
of  their  genius. 

Next  to  Shylock,  no  portrayal  of  the 
Jew  has  been  so  painful  in  its  injustice 
and  widespread  effect — as  extensive  as  the 
field  of  English  literature,  wherever  the 
English  language  is  spoken  or  its  distin- 
guished authors  are  read  in  translations 
— as  Dickens'  Fagin.  It  was  a  needless 
mortification  to  couple  with  this  wretch 
the  name  he  dishonored ;  but,  with  an 
unction  that  always  surprised  the  lovers 
of  Dickens,  that  writer  persisted  in  de- 


An  Ancient  Grudge  gi 

picting  Fagin  the  Jew  as  the  most  hideous 
and  irredeemable  character  in  his  collec- 
tion. All  England  hated  the  Jew  the 
more  as  they  recognized  in  Fagin  the 
lowest  type  of  man. 

Dickens  sought  celebrity  as  an  icono- 
clast and  a  philanthropist.  He  did  yeo- 
man's service  in  exposing  the  evils  of 
debtors'  prisons,  Yorkshire  schools,  and 
other  British  weaknesses.  But  his  delin- 
eation of  Fagin  was  a  blot  upon  his  fame 
which  he  remembered  in  after  years,  and 
tardily  strove  to  efface  by  the  creation 
of  the  comparatively  good  but  essentially 
feeble  Riah. 

That  Dickens  imbibed  a  little  bigotry 
with  his  other  inherited  tastes,  is  likely. 
That  a  man  of  his  powers  and  observa- 
tion could  have  penned  such  beautiful 
sketches,  could  have  extracted  from  the 
Christmas  story,  such  delightful  lessons  of 
love,  charity,  and  good-will,  founding  a 
literature  which  directs  men's  thoughts 
towards  the  lowly  and  the  suffering,  and 
yet  persist  in  so  shocking  a  libel  upon  the 
Jewish  character,  is  mysterious  indeed. 
Granted  that  he  was  a  caricaturist,  that  he 


92  An  Ancient  Grudge 

did  not  spare  the  Stigginses,  the  Chad- 
bands,  and  the  Jellybys.  But  these  were 
types  and  Fagin  was  a  monstrosity.  It  was 
thus  he  fanned  popular  prejudice  on  the 
stage  which  is  largely  an  instructor  and  a 
mirror  of  the  times,  followed  by  an  army 
of  small  writers  and  reporters,  aided 
by  careless  newspaper  supervision.  Our 
taste  and  sense  of  justice  are  constantly 
offended  by  intimations  and  paragraphs 
charging  persons  named  in  the  police  re- 
ports with  being  Jews  as  well  as  thieves, 
and  leading  the  ignorant  and  hasty  reader 
to  imagine  that  most  people  who  go  to 
synagogue  and  have  foreign  names  are 
thieves  as  well  as  Jews. 

The  change  in  English  fiction  began 
with  Disraeli's  elevation  as  a  public  man. 
His  early  novels  appealed  so  vividly  to 
the  imagination,  and  were  addressed  so 
peculiarly  to  the  higher  circles,  as  not  to 
reach  the  vulgar  except  as  filtered  through 
successive  strata  of  English  society.  And 
"Sidonia"  did  superb  service,  nor  has 
Disraeli  failed  to  maintain  throughout 
the  series  from  Coningsby  and  Tancred 
to  Lothair  and  Endymion  a  graceful  and 


An  Ancient  Grudge  93 

an  elevated  tone  of  treatment  for  the 
Hebrew  race. 

It  was  his  public  life,  however,  that 
affected  the  English  mind,  so  slow  of  ap- 
prehension but  essentially  just,  and  greater 
than  his  eloquent  defence  of  the  Jew  in 
his  books  was  the  closing  of  his  minis- 
terial career,  when  the  Envoy  of  the  Brit- 
ish Empire  magnetized  the  stern  German 
Chancellor  and  accomplished  a  noble  work 
for  mankind,  fixing  it  as  an  accepted 
principle  of  international  law  that  religious 
liberty  is  the  right  of  the  Jew  and  the 
Christian.  But  how  soon  after  the  mem- 
orable sittings  of  1 8 78  did  the  wily  Rou- 
manian, aided  by  influences  at  Berlin  which 
we  now  too  plainly  understand,  undo  for 
the  moment  the  generous  results  of  the 
Congress ! 

It  is  impossible  to  close  this  hasty  study 
of  the  effect  of  works  of  fiction  upon  the 
popular  mind,  without  a  reference  to  one 
of  the  truest  friends  in  the  world  of  let- 
ters the  Jewish  race  ever  had,  George 
Eliot. 

She  understood  the  genius  of  the  He- 
brew race.  She  deplored  their  unmerited 


94  An  Ancient  Grudge 

•sufferings.  She  was  as  enthusiastic  in  her 
generous  visions  of  the  future  of  Judaism 
as  the  most  loyal  of  our  modern  thinkers. 
Daniel  Deronda  fittingly  marks  the  happy 
reaction  from  a  false  and  pernicious  school 
of  thought.  It  is  simply  justice  to  lay 
upon  her  tomb  a  well  earned  tribute  of  a 
race's  affection. 

We  turn  to  a  singular  spectacle  in  Ber- 
lin, the  burning  of  Heine's  works  because 
Germany's  great  lyric  poet  was  of  Hebrew 
birth  and  once  lampooned  a  Hohenzollern. 
What  a  ludicrous  parody  on  the  bonfires 
which  the  popes  used  to  ordain  of  Jewish 
books,  and  notably  the  terrible  Talmud  ! 
and  one  reads  history  between  the  lines 
of  such  a  wonderful  police  achievement. 

It  is  Dogberry  again.  It  does  not  rise 
to  the  dignity  of  bigotry.  It  would  have 
been  despised  by  King  Clovis  who,  when 
learning  of  the  story  of  Jesus  and  how  he 
had  been  crucified,  remarked,  "Had  I 
been  there  with  my  brave  Franks,  they 
would  not  have  dared  to  do  it." 

Of  Germany,  what  can  one  say  save  to 
feel  it  an  extraordinary  perversion  of  hu- 
manity that,  in  a  land  where  learning  has 


An  Ancient  Grudge  95 

been  so  perfected  and  thorough  as  to 
delve  down  to  the  source  of  things,  and  to 
be  content  with  naught  save  the  deepest 
hidden  treasure  of  exhaustless  mines  of 
knowledge,  the  very  universities  shall  be 
used  by  insane  court  preachers  and  un- 
scrupulous politicians  in  a  crusade  against 
the  most  thrifty,  peaceful,  virtuous,  and 
studious  class  of  the  community?  As  perse- 
cution has  legal  limits  in  this  age,  these 
agitators  burn  books  instead  of  men,  and 
they  do  it  after  the  style  of  the  Moham- 
medan commander :  "  There  is  no  truth 
but  in  the  Koran.  Burn  these.  If  they 
agree  with  the  Koran  they  are  superfluous 
— if  they  disagree,  they  are  dangerous — 
burn  them." 

This  glance  at  the  influences  which 
moulded  public  sentiment  on  the  Jewish 
question  ought  not  to  be  dismissed  with- 
out alluding  to  the  Jews  of  Spain.  The 
late  U.  S.  Minister  at  Madrid  pays  this 
tribute : 

"The  Jews,  or  Israelites  rather,  are  to 
be  found  in  Spain,  contemporaneously 
with  Phoenicians,  long  anterior  to  the  in- 
vasion of  Judea  by  the  Romans.  They 


96  An  Ancient  Grudge 

survived  the  successive  Roman,  Gothic, 
and  Moorish  dominations  of  Spain,  to 
be  still  conspicuous  among  its  inhabitants 
of  divers  races  when  Christianity  had  be- 
come once  more  supreme  under  the  suc- 
cessors of  Pelayo.  It  is  no  exaggeration 
to  assert  that  during  all  this  latter  period, 
say  from  the  ninth  to  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury inclusive,  the  highest  intellectual  cul- 
tivation of  Spain  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Israelites.  While  equally  distinguished 
with  the  Moors  and  Christians  in  the  su- 
perficial pursuits  of  poetry,  rhetoric,  and 
light  literature,  they  were  in  advance  of 
all  in  the  more  serious  pursuits  of  history, 
in  political  and  juridical  knowledge,  in  the 
study  of  nature,  and  in  all  the  exact 
sciences." 

In  the  preparation  of  the  "  Code  of  Don 
Alfonso,"  that  celebrated  king  collected  a 
board  of  learned  Moors  and  Jews  who 
labored  under  his  eye  for  years  at  Toledo. 
"  Whoever  carefully  studies  Spain  cannot 
fail  to  see  the  signs  of  the  influence  of  the 
Jews,  not  only  on  the  national  character 
and  the  intellectual  condition,  but  also  on 
the  blood  of  the  Spaniards." 


An  Ancient  Grudge  97 

Mocatta,  in  his  interesting  essay  on  the 
Inquisition,  tells  of  the  persecution  two 
centuries  later  than  the  period  of  Alfonso, 
culminating  in  the  edict  of  banishment 
under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella ;  and  in  a 
resume  which  does  not  fail  to  point  at  the 
lasting  evils  recoiling  on  the  persecution, 
nevertheless  he  is  constrained  to  urge  that 
"Had  the  Jews  possessed  more  tact  dur- 
ing the  earlier  stages  of  their  troubles, 
and  adhered  more  closely  to  their  scien- 
tific and  literary  pursuits  than  to  the 
acquisition  of  wealth,  they  might  possibly 
have  averted  the  final  doom." 

No  people  ever  deserved  more  kind- 
ness than  the  Hebrew,  and  have  endured 
such  bitter  persecution.  "  One  of  the 
most  remarkable  phenomena  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  people,"  says  George  Eliot, 
"  is  that  they  have  come  out  rivalling  the 
nations  of  all  European  countries  in 
healthiness  and  beauty  of  physique,  in 
practical  ability,  in  scientific  and  artistic 
aptitude." 

That  a  local  or  momentary  prejudice 
might  be  maintained  against  an  individual 
or  a  family  offending  public  opinion  and 


98  An  Ancient  Grudge 

persistently  disregarding  the  unwritten 
law  at  the  basis  of  well  ordered  society, 
is  not  strange.  One  can  understand  the 
tendency  of  feeling  as  to  the  Oneida  Com- 
munity— to  a  Mormon  settlement  in  the 
heart  of  an  old  State — even  the  antago- 
nism against  the  negro  race  when  the  ques- 
tion was  at  once  social,  and  at  the  very 
basis  of  Southern  policy — or  the  hostility 
of  the  Irish  in  California  to  Chinese  cheap 
labor.  But  for  the  hostile  treatment  of  the 
Jew  at  this  time,  there  is  no  other  hypo- 
thesis than  the  continued  existence  of  the 
mediaeval  spirit  of  persecution,  founded 
upon  bigotry  and  avarice. 

An  intelligent  writer  discussing  the 
Philosophy  of  Persecution  has  sought  to 
explain  the  moderation  observable  as  civ- 
ilization advances  in  the  treatment  of  the 
majority.  In  mediaeval  days,  men  were 
still  savage  and  a  difference  of  opinion  com- 
pelled a  test  of  brute  force.  Under  the 
moulding  influence  of  modern  culture  men 
have  acquired  a  milder  nature. 

Unhappily,  this  has  not  led  to  a  clearer 
understanding  of  the  position  of  the  He- 
brew. And  the  story  of  communism  at 


An  Ancient  Grudge  99 

Madrid,  Paris,  St.  Petersburg,  and  recent 
incidents  in  Ireland  and  Germany  would 
imply  that  the  savage  still  predominates 
in  man's  nature,  and  is  simply  kept  under 
by  legal  restraints. 

The  old-time  ignorance  of  Jewish  char- 
acter and  personality  excused  most  of  the 
prejudice  that  manifested  itself  socially 
and  politically.  Now,  there  is  no  pre- 
tence that  the  Jew  is  a  stranger  or  inher- 
ently a  bad  citizen.  He  is  persecuted  not 
because  of  what  he  is,  but  because  of  what 
he  was  formerly  believed  to  be,  or  because 
of  the  crucifixion  whereof  his  ancestors 
have  been  unjustly  charged,  or  because 
of  the  property  his  intelligence  and  thrift 
have  acquired.  It  is  simply  a  survival  of 
the  old  spirit — the  shadow  of  the  past  is 
thrown  upon  our  otherwise  pleasing  pic- 
ture of  life — the  Jew  and  the  Christian 
striving  for  perfect  manhood. 

The  Ancient  Grudge  that  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Knight  Templars  and  the  Saxon 
chief  classed  the  beautiful  Rebecca,  at 
once  a  maiden  of  genius  and  a  woman  of 
rare  moral  power,  as  socially  inferior  to  a 
herdsman — that  made  of  Martin  Luther 


ioo          An  Ancient  Grudge 

a  vehement  advocate  of  proscription — 
that  prompted  Torquemada  to  institute 
the  most  formidable  engine  of  religious 
hate  the  world  ever  knew  or  was  shamed 
by — exists  to-day  in  a  milder  form. 

With  his  accredited  perseverance  and 
astuteness,  the  Jew  should  have  discovered 
with  each  age  the  peculiar  principle  which 
made  for  success.  And  yet  his  has  been 
a  constant  struggle  for  recognition,  for 
equality,  for  existence ;  whether  in  Spain 
with  access  to  the  highest  positions  in  the 
state — or  in  Germany  in  the  dark  ages, 
and  a  brutal  and  hostile  populace — or  in 
the  United  States  to-day,  where  they  are 
on  a  par  with  their  neighbors,  and  seek  to 
be  absorbed  in  the  great  body  of  citizens — 
or  in  Roumania,  where  by  dint  of  industry 
and  sobriety  they  have  made  a  living  and 
are  the  envy  of  the  ignorant  and  bigoted 
peasants  and  the  prey  of  the  dissolute  no- 
ble— the  distinction  continues  and  these 
men  of  different  creeds  professing  the 
same  divine  origin  are  debarred  from  liv- 
ing together  in  brotherhood  and  peace. 

Have  the  Hebrews  consciously  pro- 
voked this  perpetual  misunderstanding,  in 


An  Ancient  Grudge          101 

one  age  resulting  in  persecution,  threat- 
ened annihilation,  or  banishment,  in  anoth- 
er content  with  odious  social  ostracism  ? 

In  Athens,  they  ostracized  Aristides  be- 
cause they  were  tired  of  hearing  him 
called  the  Just ;  at  Berlin,  they  condemn 
the  Jews  because  statistics  credit  them 
with  superior  intelligence  and  morality. 

Everywhere  we  see  indications  of  the 
Hebrew's  resolution  to  become  a  citizen 
of  the  world.  Assumed  to  be  a  lover  of 
peace,  he  fought  gallantly  at  Plevna  for 
his  ungrateful  country,  he  was  among  the 
advance  guard  of  the  Prussians  entering 
Paris,  and  rose  to  high  rank  in  the  con- 
genial French  army ;  he  served  valiantly 
in  our  own  war,  and  has  always  been  dis- 
tinguished in  this  land  for  patriotic  ardor. 

The  Hebrews  do  not  set  up  indepen- 
dent institutions,  save  those  which  are 
naturally  denominational.  They  break 
away  from  any  idea  of  caste.  They  are 
honored  as  professors  in  German  univer- 
sities, directors  of  the  French  and  Aus- 
trian press,  in  the  Russian  foreign  office, 
astronomers  at  Paris,  archaeologists  at 
Rome,  in  the  consular  service,  among  ex- 


102          An  Ancient  Grudge 

plorers  in  Central  Africa,  engineers  in  the 
government  surveys,  in  our  marine  corps, 
and  in  the  navy.  In  the  learned  profes- 
sions, they  excite  the  envy  of  slow-witted 
Teutons  ;  as  a  popular  party  leader  Lasker 
had  no  fear  of  Bismarck,  and  Strassman 
was  elected  Mayor  of  Berlin  even  in 
January,  1881.  If  the  Jews  are  censured 
for  being  sound  political  economists,  they 
are  simply  showing  their  capacity  to  work 
with  current  national  forces.  The  history 
of  finance  has  no  parallel  to  the  rise  and 
maintenance  of  the  house  of  Rothschild — 
which  passes  upon  government  applica- 
tions for  loans  like  a  Wall  Street  bank 
discusses  coffee  or  drug  paper,  and  whose 
name  is  a  synonym  for  integrity  and 
sagacity.  While  a  Rothschild  may,  like 
any  other  banker  or  broker,  study  the 
eccentricities  of  the  stock  market,  since 
the  day  when  old  Mayer  Anschel  founded 
the  house  on  the  basis  of  a  great  financial 
trust  and  service  to  his  sovereign,  no  one 
can  assert  that  the  success  of  a  Rothschild 
involved  the  ruin  of  his  associates  or  im- 
plied a  taint  of  dishonesty. 

We  have  a  right  to  assume  that  in  for- 


An  Ancient  Grudge          103 

merdays  the  Hebrews  exerted  themselves 
with  equal  ardor  and  determination.  And 
the  annals  of  the  sieges  of  Prague,  Ant- 
werp, Phalsbourg,  the  wars  of  Gustavus, 
Frederick,  and  Napoleon,  demonstrate  the 
bravery  of  the  descendants  of  Joshua;  while 
in  the  achievements  of  peace,  they  were 
honored  and  successful  in  the  Italian  cit- 
ies as  manufacturers,  artificers  in  precious 
metals  and  silk  and  other  fabrics.  Their 
creed  and  race  exerted  no  serious  effect 
upon  their  handicraft  or  its  product.  But 
oppressive  laws  soon  shut  them  up  in  the 
Ghetto,  from  which  they  had  emerged  in 
the  Pontificate  of  an  occasionally  enlight- 
ened Pope.  In  the  year  1881,  the  cable 
conveys  the  astounding  news  that  the  Po- 
lish Jews  have  practically  a  monopoly  of 
the  manufacture  of  men's  caps  at  Paris. 
Is  it  possible  that  these  Jews  understand 
the  difficult  art  of  fabricating  such  won- 
drous things ! 

If,  then,  in  the  present  as  in  the  past,  the 
Jews  have  proved  and  do  prove  good  citi- 
zens, what  are  the  reasons  for  their  exclu- 
sion to-day  anywhere  from  social  equality  ? 

It  may  be  profitable  to  digress  for  the 


io4          An  Ancient  Grudge 

purpose  of  illustrating  that  the  highest  so- 
cial standing  was  accorded  in  England  for 
years,  even  while  certain  legal  disabilities 
existed,  to  Sir  Francis  Goldsmid,  a  zeal- 
ous and  punctilious  conformist,  a  barrister 
of  high  repute,  the  head  of  a  leading  scien- 
tific society,  a  philanthropist  whose  heart, 
hand,  and  purse  were  open  to  the  sufferer, 
the  oppressed  of  whatever  race.  The  mem- 
ory of  this  nobleman,  who  was,  indeed,  the 
ideal  of  a  modern  Jew,  cannot  but  be  rev- 
erenced for  his  actual  aggressiveness.  He 
resided  in  St.  John's  Wood,  London,  the 
centre  of  refinement  and  public  spirit,  en- 
tertained with  hospitality  and  discretion  ; 
society,  which  is  very  precise  in  the  English 
capital,  and  does  not  open  its  doors  to  mere 
wealth  and  is  certainly  slow  to  abandon  an- 
cient prejudices,  found  in  Sir  Francis  a  true 
English  gentleman  of  unsullied  ancestry, 
distinguished  abilities  and  manners,  who 
understood  and  practised  his  duties  as  a 
subject,  a  lawyer,  a  member  of  Parliament, 
a  lover  of  science,  a  friend  of  humanity. 
When  he  rose  in  the  House  of  Commons 
and  referred  to  the  grievances  of  the  Jews 
of  Servia,  he  was  listened  to  with  attention 


An  Ancient  Grudge          105 

and  honored  for  his  zealous  advocacy 
of  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  brethren. 
He  was  never  adequately  appreciated  for 
the  intense  earnestness  with  which  he 
espoused  this  cause  and  which  continued 
unintermittingly  until  in  later  years  he  sec- 
onded, with  signal  liberality  and  intensity, 
the  efforts  of  his  French  compeer  Adolphe 
Cremieux  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews 
of  Roumania. 

Whenever  the  Jewish  community  has 
the  good  fortune  to  be  led  by  men  like 
Goldsmid  and  the  good  sense  to  appreci- 
ate the  secret  of  the  social  standing  he  ac- 
quired, there  is  a  reasonable  prospect  of 
the  overthrow  of  prejudice,  except  only 
among  a  people  and  in  an  age  where  the 
golden  calf  is  worshipped  —  where  "suc- 
cess is  of  greater  esteem  than  character  " 
and  where  winnings  at  cards  and  specula- 
tion are  rated  higher  than  the  legitimate 
earnings  of  talent,  study,  and  industry,  and 
there  is  danger  in  such  an  age  of  the  Jew 
being  no  better  than  his  neighbor.  Now 
I  do  not  propose  to  imitate  the  Homeric 
catalogue  of  the  Greek  warriors  by  tell- 
ing of  individual  Jews  in  every  clime 


io6          An  Ancient  Grudge 

who  have  distinguished  themselves  in 
art,  science,  letters,  politics,  the  work  of 
benevolence.  Who  was  more  English 
than  David  Salomons,  more  French  than 
Adolphe  Cremieux,  more  Italian  than 
Daniel  Manin,  more  German  than  Mendels- 
sohn orRiesser?  The  greatest  Englishman 
since  William  Pitt  was  of  Jewish  birth — 
and  underbred  critics  and  politicians  call 
Disraeli  un-English !  If  in  Russia,  Jews 
are  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  the  nobles  — 
if  in  Germany,  they  oppose  Bismarck,  is 
it  strange  ?  In  Great  Britain,  Baron  de 
Worms  is  a  Conservative  and  Arthur  Co- 
hen a  Liberal,  and,  as  the  Spectator  says, 
"there  is  no  popular  dislike  of  the  influ- 
ence the  Jewish  mind  may  exert  in  poli- 
tics, journalism,  or  theology."  In  France, 
the  United  States,  and  Holland,  there  is 
really  no  such  thing  as  pretending  to  iden- 
tify Jews  as  a  separate  body,  save  in  le- 
gitimate denominational  work.  "  Every 
country  now  has  the  Jew  it  deserves"  — 
in  the  middle  ages  the  Jews  were  above 
the  deserts  and  the  comprehension  of  the 
nations  of  Europe. 

The  Grudge  that  sprang  from  mediaeval 


An  Ancient  Grudge  107 

bigotry  and  ignorance, — which  still  sur- 
vive in  the  dawn  and  bright  noonday  of 
enlightenment  and  civilization, — continues 
despite  sound  reason  and  experience.  It 
is  peculiar  to  the  relation  of  Jew  and  non- 
Jew.  There  is  no  intrinsic  reason  in  the 
Jewish  genius.  Disraeli  the  elder  and 
George  Eliot  have  in  vain  endeavored  to 
trace  some  rational  foundation  for  the 
dislike. 

The  cause  now  boldly  avowed  is  the 
superior  ability  of  the  Jews,  their  thrift 
and  command  of  resources. 

To  claim  that  the  prejudice  is  height- 
ened by  the  conviction  of  their  superior 
alertness,  industry,  and  business  success, 
may  seem  arrogant — but  only  trade  jeal- 
ousy occasioned  the  Roumanian  persecu- 
tions— and  the  apologists  for  German 
proscription  point  to  the  success  of  the  Jew 
as  lawyer,  professor,  editor,  merchant,  and 
banker  as  an  argument  for  denying  him 
equality  of  legal  rights  !  The  competition 
is  too  great  for  the  phlegmatic  and  dila- 
tory Teutons  !  The  assertion  of  such  an 
argument  is  simply  Communism.  It  de- 
nies the  law  of  evolution.  The  Jews  are 


io8  An  Ancient  Grudge 

industrious,  thrifty,  capable — they  have 
special  aptitude  for  the  work  of  the  pres- 
ent age — they  are  likely  to  excel  their 
neighbors  in  the  struggle  for  existence — 
the  trained  minority  will  beat  the  majority 
— therefore,  let  us  crush  them.  Such  was 
the  argument  of  the  Egyptian  king — but 
Pharaoh's  daughter  saved  from  the  cruel 
Nile  a  Jewish  babe  who  became  his  peo- 
ple's liberator. 

Now  the  Jews,  wherever  they  have  wan- 
dered, have  been  uniformly  loyal  to  the 
land  of  their  birth  or  adoption.  If  the  re- 
turn to  Palestine  is  a  vision  of  the  inspired 
prophet  and  the  creed  of  the  faithful,  this 
is  associated  with  the  miraculous  interpo- 
sition of  the  Deity,  and  is  deemed  too  dis- 
tant and  too  sudden  a  call  to  interfere 
with  ordinary  patriotic  duty.  Jews  have 
never  been  conspirators,  at  least  not  until 
now  that  certain  socialists  charged  with 
designs  against  crowned  heads  have  been 
declared  to  be  of  Jewish  birth.  If  this  be 
true,  their  complicity  with  treason  and 
assassination  like  any  other  crime  has  been 
in  spite  of  the  Judaism  in  which  they  were 
born,  and  was  not  developed  until  they  felt 


An  Ancient  Grudge  109 

themselves  superior  to  the  religion  which 
commands  "  seek  ye  the  peace  of  the  land 
wherein  ye  dwell." 

America,  with  its  speculative  and  sensa- 
tional spirit,  has  proved  delicate  ground 
for  such  Jews  as  awkwardly  undertake  the 
appearance  of  sons  of  the  soil  before  they 
have  quite  left  off  European  ways.  But 
Newport,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Balti- 
more, Charleston,  Savanah,  and  New  Or- 
leans tell  of  Jewish  residents  strong  in  the 
faith,  whose  high  character,  lofty  patriot- 
ism and  genuine  attachment  to  their  city 
and  State  are  remembered  with  honor  and 
gratitude.  Read  the  story  of  Newport  in 
Touro  Street  and  Lopez  Wharf,  in  the 
beautiful  synagogue,  in  the  cemetery  redo- 
lent of  Jewish  poetry  and  fidelity  immortal- 
ized by  Longfellow.  Charleston  reared  a 
mural  tablet  to  the  memory  of  Mordecai 
Cohen.  New  Orleans  will  never  forget 
her  beloved  son,  Judah  Touro. 

We  have  seen,  then,  that  the  prejudice 
in  the  middle  ages  proceeded  from  sev- 
eral causes :  the  ignorance  and  brutal- 
ity characteristic  of  rulers  and  mob — the 
teachings  of  the  priests — the  dishonesty  of 


no          An  Ancient  Grudge 

the  debtor  class ;  that  these  influences  con- 
tinued even  after  the  Reformation,  and 
were  enforced  by  the  new  formative  agents 
in  modern  civilization,  the  social  instinct, 
business  competition,  and  popular  litera- 
ture ;  that  the  accusations  against  the  Jews 
have  been  admitted  to  be  untrue,  and  that 
a  fairer  estimate  of  Jewish  character  has 
gradually  dawned  upon  the  world,  al- 
though the  occasional  revival  of  exploded 
stories  and  an  exceptional  rising  remind 
us  that  the  era  of  universal  peace  has  not 
yet  arrived. 

It  remains  for  us  to  consider  the  bear- 
ing of  the  Jew  at  this  day,  having  in  view 
these  teachings  of  the  past,  and  the  knowl- 
edge that  history  repeats  itself.  H  ow  shall 
the  Jew  "  feed  the  ancient  grudge  "  ? 

The  story  of  Jewish  persecution  evinces 
the  heroism  of  our  ancestors.  Had  they, 
indeed,  displayed  more  tact,  and  had  they 
been  willing  to  sacrifice  conviction  and 
principle,  they  might  have  been  absorbed 
in  the  common  mass  ;  the  loss  would  have 
been  humanity's.  A  hostile  Berlin  paper 
acquits  conformists,  and  charges  the  sins 
of  to-day  upon  "  a  generation  which  has 


An  Ancient  Grudge  1 1 1 

broken  from  the  old   covenant   and   the 
principles  of  their  fathers." 

Those  who  advise  a  surrender  of  all 
that  is  distinctive  in  Judaism  may  mean 
well  but  they  counsel  treason.  The  Jews 
will  act  wisely  in  considering  the  condition 
under  which  people  harmonize  and  co- 
alesce in  this  age.  They  are  not  called 
upon  to  rebuild  the  synagogue  so  that  it 
should  be  mistaken  for  a  church.  They 
have  no  right  to  substitute  for  the  law  the 
temporary  caprice  of  successful  business 
men.  They  cannot  gain  public  esteem  by 
hypocrisy,  and  they  should  not  delude 
themselves  into  the  belief  that  the  age  of 
speculation  will  endure  forever.  They 
should  simply  be  Americans  in  America, 
Germans  in  Germany.  This  course  is 
precisely  in  the  direction  taken  by  the 
Israelites  of  France  and  England.  It  has 
to  do  largely  with  externals,  with  manners, 
with  modes  of  expression.  And  yet  we 
should  not  forget  that  the  most  patriotic 
and  honest  Americans  in  a  distinctively 
American  city  during  the  Revolution 
were  Quakers,  who  maintained  vigorously 
their  quaint  forms  of  worship  and  their 


ii2  An  Ancient  Grudge 

unique  costumes.  Perhaps  they  would 
have  been  as  cordially  appreciated  had 
they  dressed  like  other  men  and  women 
but  a  dishonest  Friend,  a  disloyal  Friend, 
was  unknown  in  the  days  of  Rush  and 
Franklin.  Unhappily,  the  Friends  are 
decreasing — the  atmosphere  of  the  busy 
city  does  not  favor  the  growth  of  such 
quiet,  old-fashioned  bodies. 

Conformity  to  American  ways  is  not 
inconsistent  with  Judaism.  Fidelity  to 
Judaism  is  not  in  conflict  with  duty  to  the 
State. 

I  deny  that  the  average  Jew  offends 
more  seriously  than  the  average  Christian 
in  what  are  properly  considered  social 
blemishes.  If  a  different  idea  prevails, 
it  is  because  obnoxious  individuals  are  im- 
properly taken  as  types.  And  it  is  possi- 
ble that  some  Hebrews  who  have  acquired 
a  good  commercial  standing  are  unjustly 
compared  as  to  manner  with  the  old 
Knickerbockers,  or  the  Bostonians  of 
Beacon  Street — whereas  they  simply  be- 
long to  the  ordinary  grades  of  Ameri- 
cans, and  are,  as  a  class,  more  intelligent 
than  citizens  of  like  position  who  are 


An  Ancient  Grudge          113 

Church  people  and  who  have  dared  to 
censure  them. 

A  critic  of  acknowledged  powers,  writing 
in  a  daily  paper  on  New  York  Society, 
speaks  of  "  the  deterioration  of  manners 
consequent  on  the  profuseness  and  flashi- 
ness  of  Society."  "  As  to  refinement, 
grace  of  manner,  courtesy,  true  polite- 
ness, they  exist,  indeed,  in  individuals, 
but  some  deleterious  influence  prevents 
their  manifestation  in  Society."  "  Do 
we  Americans  defer  to  anything  except 
money  and  political  power  ? "  "  We 
intrude  and  are  expected  in  turn  to  toler- 
ate intrusion.  You  may  do  what  is  selfish 
and  ill-bred,  if  you  will  not  check  me  in 
my  selfishness  and  ill-breeding.  Self-re- 
straint is  at  the  foundation  of  all  polite- 
ness, and  the  spirit  of  our  Society  seems 
now  to  be  a  mutual  condonation  of  self- 
indulgence."  And  the  Evening  Post 
in  the  same  strain,  emphatically  speaks  of 
"  the  age  of  Push  "  and  characterizes  the 
offensive  manners  among  New  Yorkers. 

American  society,  generally,  has  no 
special  right  to  condemn  that  part  of  it 
which  is  Jewish. 


ii4          An  Ancient  Grudge 

Insisting  that  the  Jew  shall  be  true  to 
himself  even  amid  the  allurements  of  this 
speculative  age,  and  shall  be  better  than 
the  man  whom  the  age  recognizes  as  typi- 
cal, one  need  simply  recall  the  essential 
purity  and  dignity  of  Jewish  home  life,  and 
ask  what  is  to  be  gained  by  being  over- 
anxious to  be  considered  society  people 
as  Mr.  White  depicts  them  ? 

Good  manners  are  the  test  of  endur- 
ance and  welcome  by  the  many  of  a 
stranger  asking  admission  to  their  circle. 
The  Jew  may  urge  that  his  critics  con- 
done a  bad  life  while  they  will  not  tolerate 
eccentric  behavior ;  he  must  nevertheless 
condemn  vulgarity  and  ostentation,  and 
firmly  deny  that  these  are  the  privileges 
of  any  man  or  class,  or  that  they  are 
characteristics  to  be  proud  of. 

The  world  has  advanced  far  enough  to 
rate  a  man  at  his  true  worth,  and  not  to 
handicap  him  with  the  burden  of  ancestral 
misunderstandings.  The  world  cannot 
afford  to  lose  the  Jew's  sagacity  or  his 
fidelity  to  the  law — and  the  Jew  cannot 
endure  to  live  in  any  land  at  the  price  of 
being  hunted  down  for  his  faithfulness. 


An  Ancient  Grudge          115 

As  if  to  confound  us — to  throw  our 
theories  to  the  winds — we  are  confronted 
by  a  painful  state  of  affairs  in  Germany. 
I  do  not  for  an  instant  admit  that  the  agi- 
tation will  lead  to  legal  proscription,  and 
it  is  clear  that  the  reaction  will  inevitably 
come  to  the  relief  and  the  justification  of 
the  Jew.  The  great  leaders  of  true  Ger- 
man thought  earnestly  condemn  the  anti- 
Semitic  movement.  Mommsen,  Vogt, 
Virchow,  a  host  of  great  men,  are  with 
Lazarus,  Lasker,  and  their  colleagues. 
And  the  Crown  Prince  sought  opportuni- 
ties to  indicate  his  frank  and  manly  views. 

So  far  as  the  agitation  is  maintained  in 
the  interest  of  the  Church,  it  is  opposed  to 
the  spirit  of  the  times.  The  Church  that 
favors  proscription  must  go  to  the  wall. 
Even  the  Emperor,  beloved  for  his  glori- 
ous career,  cannot  shelter  Stoecker.  A 
republic  has  heretofore  succeeded  priest- 
ridden  imperialism.  The  agitation  can- 
not command  to  any  extent  the  assistance 
of  ignorance  of  the  Jew's  claims  to  re- 
spect as  a  man — that  relic  of  feudalism 
has  gone  down  beneath  the  blows  of  the 
later  chivalry. 


n6          An  Ancient  Grudge 

The  proscription  rests  entirely  upon 
that  powerful  social  instinct  combining 
selfishness,  interest,  envy  of  superior  as- 
tuteness, trade  jealousy.  And  in  support 
of  a  movement  against  the  Jew  based 
upon  no  other  living  issue  than  this,  the 
avaricious  and  ungifted  Teutons  and  the 
ambitious  and  reckless  Chancellor  make 
common  cause,  dreading  the  loss  of  power 
when  intelligence  spreads  throughout  the 
land.  So  they  attack  the  Jew  because 
he  is  too  industrious,  too  moral,  too 
domesticated,  too  pushing.  Five  hun- 
dred thousand  Jews  •  among  forty-five 
million  Christians  and  men  who  know 
too  much  to  believe  in  God !  What  a 
serious  thing  if  these  "  aliens  "  shall  mo- 
nopolize public  offices,  posts  of  honor  and 
profit,  and  the  prizes  of  commercial  su- 
premacy !  Perhaps  if  they  have  the  ability 
to  attain  this  distinction,  they  have  the 
staying  power  also.  Perhaps  they  will 
fully  understand,  without  advice  from  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  how  to  meet  this 
attack  of  unsuccessful  tradesmen,  idle  poli- 
ticians, meddling  chaplains,  and  brilliant 
communists  who  may  claim  even  Bismarck 


An  Ancient  Grudge  1 1 7 

as  an  active  member  of  the  modern  Illum- 
inati  or  Dark  Lantern  Club  ! 

This  agitation  seems  to  be  a  bad  policy 
for  Germany  but  the  accusation  is  made 
and  sentence  of  excommunication  is  again 
to  be  passed  upon  the  Jews  —  on  general 
principles. 

What  is  happening  in  Germany  may  be 
repeated  elsewhere.  What  policy  shall  the 
Jew  pursue  ? 

If  he  can  be  blamed  for  anything  besides 
a  moral  cowardice  which  has  persuaded 
him  at  times  to  surrender  the  priceless 
heritage  of  Judaism  for  a  mess  of  un- 
clean pottage,  it  is  his  readiness  to  over- 
rate the  condescension  of  "society"  in 
admitting  him  on  these  terms.  In  certain 
American  cities,  he  has  been  guilty  of 
the  American  weakness  —  pretension,  the 
worship  of  fashion.  He  has  even  exag- 
gerated this  foible,  thinking  that  thereby, 
with  his  faster  horses,  his  more  expensive 
opera  box,  his  heavier  bills  at  the  seaside 
resorts,  his  more  costly  jewelry,  his  mag- 
niloquence, and  his  indifference  to  losses 
at  cards  or  the  races,  he  can  prove  himself 
"  a  bigger  man  than  "  his  model.  At  least, 


n8          An  Ancient  Grudge 

that  is  about  what  comparatively  friendly 
German  critics  say  of  certain  newly  en- 
riched barons  at  German  capitals  and 
watering  places. 

What  a  mistake  to  swerve  from  that 
straight  line  marked  out  away  back  dur- 
ing the  exile  of  Abraham  in  a  strange 
land,  and  maintained  rigidly  by  the  Law 
which  kept  this  a  people  specially  favored 
by  light  when  the  world  was  in  darkness. 
"  The  better  the  Jew  the  better  the  citi- 
zen." A  good  life  implies  good  manners  ; 
they  spring,  after  all,  from  a  kind  heart. 
The  counterfeit  assumed  by  the  so-called 
man  of  the  world  never  had  the  true  ring 
—  it  is  only  a  tribute  to  the  breeding  which 
is  far  deeper  than  superficial  politeness. 

Why  should  the  Jews  be  ambitious  to 
lose  their  distinction  ?  If  nations  whose 
traditions  have  moved  the  world  in  lofty 
poesy  and  are  preserved  in  relics  of  an- 
cient art,  practised  the  most  debasing 
rites,  murdered  the  stranger,  the  infant, 
the  aged,  the  weak  and  defenceless,  hon- 
ored robbery  and  rapine,  deified  the  most 
adroit  heroes  of  the  chase,  at  a  period 
when  the  Jews  had  wise  laws,  benevolent 


An  Ancient  Grudge          119 

regulations,  inculcating  love  and  honesty 
towards  all  men  —  if,  at  a  time  when  even 
a  convent  was  no  longer  a  safe  refuge  for 
a  king's  daughter,  when  the  powerful 
barons  were  merely  bandits,  when  the 
sovereigns  were  only  of  superior  might, 
ruffianism,  and  chicanery  ;  when  each  cru- 
sade in  defence  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was 
an  excuse  for  avoiding  payment  of  debts, 
for  pillage,  for  debauchery,  for  cruel  merci- 
less persecution  of  the  helpless,  the  Jews 
were  the  only  people,  save  an  occasional 
ambitious  priest,  who  cultivated  the  intel- 
lect and  fostered  science  and  perhaps  the 
only  class  who  respected  the  purity  and 
possibilities  of  home  life,  and  these  same 
Jews  in  their  wretched  prison-quarters  pre- 
served and  embellished  a  great  literature. 
Are  the  Jews  to-day,  whom  this  ancestry 
and  these  laws  prepared  for  the  world's 
battle,  for  the  first  time  to  be  stigmatized 
as  cowards,  incapables  ? 

Pay  the  world  the  tribute  of  dress- 
ing like  other  people  —  the  Jews  do  not 
regard  as  an  inestimable  privilege  the 
right  to  wear  the  gaberdine  !  Is  the  world 
suddenly  quiet  and  composed,  weary  of 


120          An  Ancient  Grudge 

the  panoply  of  war  and  its  simulated 
fierceness  ?  Certainly  the  Jews  do  not 
demand  the  exclusive  privilege  of  loud- 
ness  of  speech  and  deportment.  Does  the 
world  esteem  men  not  for  what  they  are, 
but  for  what  they  seem  ?  Why  shall  not 
the  Jews  who  are  honest,  virtuous,  de- 
voted, patriotic,  intelligent,  industrious  — 
seem  to  be  all  this?  If  Jews  possess  the 
tact  with  which  they  are  credited,  they 
will  be  remarkable  men  more  for  the 
quietest  manners  and  the  most  effective 
work  —  for  an  abhorrence  of  shams  and 
idolatry.  And  they  will  demand  of  their 
brethren  for  whom  public  opinion  has 
made  them  somewhat  responsible,  that 
they  be  distinguished  for  that  which  raises 
men  in  the  eyes  of  their  neighbors,  frown- 
ing upon  the  petty  spirit  which  keeps  alive 
European  and  local  jealousies. 

When  a  Jew  is  a  merchant,  he  will 
abominate  false  weights  and  measures,  as 
did  his  ancestors  who  observed  the  Mosaic 
Law.  When  raised  to  a  position  of  pub- 
lic trust,  he  will  "  do  justice,  love  mercy, 
walk  humbly  —  fear  God  and  hate  bribes 
—  seek  the  peace  of  his  people  and  the 


An  Ancient  Grudge  121 

land  wherein  they  dwell "  —  as  did  his 
Jewish  prototypes.  He  will  train  his  sons 
to  be  expert  mechanics  or  studious  and 
energetic  if  professional  life  charm  them, 
but  he  will  disdain  the  drone,  the  com- 
munist, and  the  trickster. 

He  will  naturally  acquire  such  of  the 
world's  ways  as  are  consistent  with  hon- 
esty, and  educate  his  less  favored  brethren 
up  to  the  highest  standard.  Courageously 
maintaining  his  faith,  he  will  seek  to 
raise  Judaism  in  generous  rivalry  with  sis- 
ter-creeds, not  merely  in  the  vindication  of 
doctrine,  the  assertion  of  liturgical  in- 
dependence, but  in  deeds  which  all  religion 
declares  to  be  the  highest  development  of 
human  aspiration  towards  God  —  prevent- 
ing pauperism  and  crime,  rescuing  the  neg- 
lected, the  crushed  in  spirit.  And  he 
should  prove  his  faith  by  his  works  —  if 
he  is  proud  of  his  ancestry  who  preserved 
and  embellished  Hebrew  literature,  let 
him  encourage  the  study  of  the  literature 
they  preserved.  Religious  equality  has 
put  Judaism  on  its  mettle  —  it  must  be 
the  equal  of  the  most  earnest  and  useful 
of  sects.  Apart  from  the  synagogue  and 


122          An  Ancient  Grudge 

under  its  teachings,  the  Jew  must  be  a 
man,  doing  his  part  in  the  world  as  a  true 
citizen,  known  in  his  calling  for  integrity 
and  ability,  recognized  as  a  patriot  and 
an  intelligent  thinker  and  participant  in 
affairs. 

But  if  the  Jews  are  truly  wise,  they  will 
adopt  the  best  models.  In  benevolent 
impulses,  in  charitable  work,  they  are 
already  observed  with  at  least  tardy  recog- 
nition, their  institutions  for  relief  of  the 
suffering,  the  widow,  the  orphan,  and  the 
helpless  aged  are  the  means  by  which 
the  heart  of  the  Christian  has  been  drawn 
towards  them,  and  their  Montefiore  is  the 
type  of  philanthropy.  The  Jews'  benev- 
olence has  overstepped  the  barriers  of 
caste  and  creed,  as  it  has  already  grasped 
the  idea  of  an  alliance  for  the  education 
and  elevation  of  oriental  brethren. 

In  the  world,  as  citizens,  the  foremost 
men  of  the  Republic  must  be  their  models 
— Emerson,  who  glories  in  the  vindication 
of  merit  rather  than  success — Webster, 
who  says  "  there  is  no  evil  one  cannot 
face  or  fly  from  save  the  consciousness  of 
duty  undischarged  "  —  Lincoln,  inspiring 


An  Ancient  Grudge  123 

us  "  with  malice  towards  none,  with  char- 
ity for  all,  doing  the  right  as  God  gives 
us  to  see  the  right." 

And  thus  if  the  middle  ages  survive 
anywhere  in  spirit,  the  Jews  may  by  their 
lives  demonstrate  how  shocking,  how  ab- 
surd is  the  proscription.  They  must  de- 
clare their  ideal,  by  honoring  their  best 
men  not  for  mere  success  in  ways  of  spec- 
ulation but  for  intelligent  devotion  to  their 
calling,  however  humble,  for  honesty  and 
purity  in  their  walks,  for  patriotic  ardor  : 
success  of  which  to  be  proud  must  im- 
ply character,  capacity,  merit.  Rejoicing 
in  their  advancement,  we  think  of  the  glory 
reflected  upon  the  great  family,  the  race 
which  is  undying  though  empire  has  been 
lost  and  its  recovery  be  unsought. 

With  all  our  might,  we  must  oppose  the 
surrender  of  Judaism  into  the  hands  of 
the  materialists.  Judaism  is  still  a  power, 
unless  we  are  recreants.  Our  creed  is  no 
longer  a  bar  to  existence  as  men  —  to  the 
enjoyment  of  civil  rights. 

Let  us  remember  that,  as  Lessing  says, 
"  God  educated  in  the  Jews  the  future 
teachers  of  mankind,"  and  exclaim  with 


124  An  Ancient  Grudge 

Mendelssohn,  "  It  is  by  virtue  that  I  wish 
to  shame  the  opprobrious  opinion  enter- 
tained of  the  Jew."  And  as  the  brave  and 
good  Prof.  Lazarus  of  Berlin  advised  and 
inspired  his  fellow-believers,  "  Be  loyal  to 
Judaism'1 


MONTEFIORE,  THE  IDEAL  JEW1 

To  turn  aside  from  the  frivolities  and 
anxieties  of  everyday  life  and  contemplate 
the  career  of  one  who  has  never  swerved 
from  a  grand  ideal  and  who,  superior  to 
allurements  and  trials,  has  uniformly  main- 
tained the  dignity  and  the  uprightness  of 
the  true  man  —  may  well  inspire  the  world 
to  great  thoughts  and  enduring  deeds. 

Who  is  Montefiore  ?  I  shall  not  re- 
capitulate the  story  of  his  life,  replete  with 
familiar  incidents.  To  what  purpose  has 
our  Montefiore  lived  if  not  to  demonstrate 
that  the  Jewish  heart  beats,  as  ever,  re- 
sponsive to  the  cry  of  the  downtrodden 
and  oppressed  ;  that  fidelity  to  Judaism  is 
possible  even  in  this  age ;  that  the  world 
respects  and  honors  the  faithful  Israelite, 
honestly,  modestly  proud — not  vain  —  of 
his  lineage,  his  ancestral  history  —  of  the 
obligation  imposed  upon  him  as  one  of  the 
race  of  Abraham,  Moses,  and  Isaiah. 

Observe  how  this  perfect  Jew  dedicated 

1  Delivered  at  the  Montefiore  Centenary,  October  25,  1884. 
125 


i26     Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew 

his  life  to  benevolent  work.  Generous  and 
catholic  in  his  charity,  in  his  sympathies, 
—  for  he  has  aided  every  good  cause,  be 
the  beneficiaries  Christian,  Mohammedan, 
or  Israelite, —  he  deliberately  undertook  a 
special  mission  for  which  no  other  man 
was  as  well  fitted, —  the  enfranchisement 
and  elevation  of  the  race.  His  choice  was 
dictated  by  wisdom  as  well  as  by  that  no- 
ble heart. 

Had  Montefiore  entered  the  arena  of 
politics,  had  he  undertaken  a  career  ordi- 
narily sought  or  followed  by  contempora- 
ries of  his  wealth  and  position,  it  is  likely 
that  he  would  have  failed  to  attain  results 
commensurate  with  his  ambition.  The 
contest  would  then  have  been  unequal, 
waged  by  a  man  of  transcendent  men- 
tal power,  who  remained  a  Jew.  Disraeli 
alone  of  British  subjects  born  in  the  He- 
brew faith,  was  fitted  to  cope  with  the 
stormy  struggle  ;  and  it  demanded  all  his 
genius  and  confidence  in  himself  to  rise 
above  the  incessant  attacks  made  upon 
him  because  of  his  race,  though  he  had 
entered  the  national  Church.  Disraeli  in- 
deed accomplished  his  part  in  the  work 


Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew      127 

of  emancipation  by  compelling  the  Eng- 
lish reading  public  to  recognize  the  genius 
of  Judaism,  the  possession  of  high  per- 
sonal qualifications  in  men  and  women 
whom  early  traditions,  education,  and  as- 
sociations had  classed  as  inferior  beings. 

It  was  reserved  for  Montefiore  to  in- 
spire not  alone  respect  for  Hebrews  as 
men  and  women,  but  admiration  for  the 
race  and  the  faith  which  could  produce 
such  an  example  of  constancy,  fidelity,  and 
disinterestedness. 

The  basis  of  his  devotion  to  Judaism 
and  the  enfranchisement  of  the  oppressed, 
was  his  intense  Jewish  feeling.  His  re- 
ligious training  often  presented  to  his 
vision  the  prophet  Moses  who  saw  his 
brethren  suffer  at  the  hand  of  the 
Egyptian  taskmaster,  saw  their  bitter 
anguish,  and  became  their  sturdy  cham- 
pion. Our  Moses  Montefiore  manifested 
the  same  characteristic  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  the  enslaved  and  persecuted. 

Neither  did  his  princely  station  as  an 
Englishman  honored  by  his  sovereign 
unfit  him  for  a  life's  work  hedged  with  diffi- 
culties and  tinged  with  sorrowful  fore- 


128     Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew 

bodings.  For  him  there  was  hope — a  bow 
of  promise — in  the  heavens  that  seemed 
so  lowering.  There  was  the  prophetic 
declaration  in  which  he  implicitly  believed  : 
"  Israel  will  be  saved  by  the  Lord,  in  an 
eternal  salvation" — "  God  will  not  forsake 
his  people." 

How  his  eye  glistened  as  he  recalled 
the  exclamation,  "If  I  forget  thee,  O 
Jerusalem ! "  It  was  the  magnet  that 
attracted  him — the  electric  light  that  il- 
lumined his  world.  "  If  I  forget  thee, 
O  Jerusalem ! " 

His  armorial  bearings,  his  crest,  do  not 
assert  his  family  pride,  the  strong  right 
arm  of  some  valiant  ancestor,  but  mod- 
estly he  bears  the  motto  "  Think  and 
Thank  "  ;  and  lovingly,  bravely,  defiantly, 
the  lion  of  Judah  supports  the  shield,  with 
a  pennon  emblazoned  "  Jerusalem." 

Towards  the  East,  he  turned  in  prayer. 
Towards  the  East,  he  bent  his  steps,  in 
quest  of  help  for  his  brethren, — innocent 
but  misunderstood,  suffering,  persecuted, 
and  in  jeopardy.  Forty-four  years  ago  he 
set  out  on  that  memorable  journey  to 
Damascus,  his  second  campaign  against 


Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew      129 

bigotry  in  the  Orient,  and  secured  by  his 
manly  defence  of  his  fellow-Israelites  the 
Sultan's  judgment  in  their  favor,  and  the 
world's  acknowledgment  of  his  services  to 
humanity. 

What  avail  ordinary  triumphs  compared 
with  this  heroic  championship  of  a  perse- 
cuted race ! 

We  may  well  rejoice  in  Montefiore's 
abnegation  of  self — his  absorption  in  phil- 
anthropic work,  and  be  grateful  that  he 
pursued  the  tenor  of  a  tranquil,  upright, 
faithful  life,  ever  striving  for  the  liberty, 
peace,  and  happiness  of  his  fellow- 
men. 

Half  a  century  ago,  Montefiore  was 
barely  permitted  as  a  Jew  to  accept 
the  honorary  office  of  Sheriff  of  Lon- 
don and  Middlesex.  He  has  been  priv- 
ileged to  enjoy  the  delight  of  witnessing 
the  legal  enfranchisement  of  his  brethren 
even  in  the  Orient :  and  although  the  in- 
explicable agitation  of  the  past  three  or 
four  years  has  delayed  the  absolute  fulfil- 
ment of  the  international  pledge  at  Ber- 
lin, may  it  not  be  reserved  for  the 
revered  champion  who  entered  the  lists  at 


130     Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew 

Damascus,  at  St.  Petersburg,  at  Fez,  at 
Bucharest,  at  Rome — wherever  the  spirit 
of  mediaeval  bigotry  and  hatred  prevailed, 
wherever  Torquemada's  mantle  had  fallen 
on  some  modern  shoulders — to  be  spared 
until  the  olive  leaf  shall  be  borne  to  him 
from  the  ruthless,  stormy,  treacherous  wa- 
ters of  the  Danube?  If  anti-Semitism, 
false  and  hypocritical  in  its  origin,  merci- 
less and  inhuman  in  its  spirit  and  its  policy, 
reckless  and  cruel  in  its  deeds,  still  lin- 
ger, it  cannot  but  be  vanquished  in  the 
encounter  with  such  forces  as  enlighten- 
ment and  justice  have,  rallied  to  the  de- 
fence of  Judaism. 

Montefiore's  sturdy  figure,  venerable 
and  massive — the  great  oak  that  has  with- 
stood the  fiercest  blasts  and  storms, — is 
outlined  against  the  sky,  and  there  is  hope 
for  the  weary  sufferer. 

This  ideal  Jew  is  a  tower  of  strength 
to  the  Hebrew  cause.  He  is  every  inch 
a  man,  a  citizen — but  his  religion  and 
his  race  are  identified  with  his  life. 
Happily  gifted  with  a  philosophy  which 
prompted  him  to  abandon  a  prosperous 
business  when  he  was  barely  forty  years  of 


Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew      131 

age,  not  worshipping  wealth,  but  regarding 
it  only  as  a  means  to  an  end — the  benefit 
of  humanity, — he  enjoyed  the  rare  oppor- 
tunity of  studying  mankind  from  the  van- 
tage-ground of  the  observer  who  travels 
leisurely.  A  love  of  art,  science,  and  let- 
ters, a  deep  interest  in  passing  events,  a 
social  connection  with  "  Men  of  light  and 
leading,"  an  ever-extending  sympathy  for 
suffering,  and  an  undying,  all-pervading 
reverence  for  the  Holy  Land,  have,  with 
his  strict  fidelity  in  the  practice  of  a  creed 
which  at  every  stage  involves  self-denial, 
kept  him  young  and  happy  even  amid  the 
naturally  increasing  feebleness  of  his  phy- 
sical frame,  and  despite  the  sorrows  of  his 
widowed  life.  How  "his  mental  force 
had  not  abated  "  when  he  entered  his  one 
hundreth  year,  was  apparent  from  his  cor- 
dial reception  of  deputations  and  addresses 
from  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world.  The 
special  characteristics  of  Montefiore's  ca- 
reer cannot  but  exert  an  enduring  impres- 
sion. He  is  a  philanthrophist  because  of 
his  race  and  creed.  His  training,  his 
mind,  his  heart  and  soul  have  been  in  the 
benevolent  work  maintained  without  in- 


i32       Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew 

termission  and  developed  with  each  new 
call  upon  his  sympathy. 

I  have  referred  to  his  reverence  for  the 
Holy  Land.  Certainly,  if  a  reply  were 
requisite  to  the  charge  that  Jews  cannot 
be  patriots,  the  policy  and  practice  of  this 
Israelite  would  supply  it. 

Montefiore's  interest  in  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  Holy  Land  sprang  from  his 
religious  zeal,  but  was  ever  stimulated  by 
the  sight  and  the  study  of  the  distress  en- 
dured there.  He  loved  Jerusalem.  He 
could  not  witness  physical  or  mental 
anguish  without  seeking  to  alleviate  it. 
Hence,  he  engaged  in  the  task  of  remov- 
ing the  causes  of  suffering, — improving  the 
water  supply,  aiding  agricultural  move- 
ments, building  homes  for  the  homeless, 
hospitals,  and  orphanages.  Hence,  he 
contended  with  local  and  general  officials 
for  decrees  in  behalf  of  the  resident 
Hebrews. 

And  did  this  life-long  labor  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Palestine  obnoxiously  intrude  itself 
into  his  career  as  a  citizen  ?  Successive 
ministers  of  State,  the  Queen,  and  all 
England  have  cordially  borne  testimony 


Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew      133 

to  the  universal  honor  in  which  he  is  held 
as  a  loyal  subject. 

His  active  interest  in  Palestine  has 
necessarily  led  to  many  a  movement  in 
the  like  direction.  His  stewardship  of  the 
munificent  bequest  of  the  American  phi- 
lanthropist Judah  Touro  was  a  noble 
tribute  of  the  pious  patriarch  to  the  be- 
nevolent stranger  who  did  not  "  forget 
Jerusalem." 

For  thirty  years,  a  modest  society  of 
New  York,  founded  by  Sampson  Sim- 
son,  another  American  philanthropist,  has 
regularly  transmitted  its  income,  and  from 
distant  western  towns  in  this  republic 
have  annual  stipends  gone  to  swell  the 
fund  contributed  in  Europe  for  the  chari- 
ties of  Palestine. 

If  this  interest  be  but  sentimental,  apart 
from  the  humane  impulse  to  relieve  dis- 
tress anywhere,  if  there  no  longer  exist 
in  western  countries  a  general  belief  in 
restoration  to  the  Holy  Land,  neverthe- 
less Montefiore's  half-century  of  work  has 
rendered  still  more  sacred  the  places  that 
Christians,  Jews,  and  Moslem  alike  rever- 
ence, and  is  surrounding  them  with  the 


134     Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew 

agencies  of  modern  progress,  schools  and 
other  centres  whose  utility  is  reflected  in 
the  improved  tone  of  the  people. 

Montefiore  has  stimulated  a  generous 
rivalry  throughout  the  civilized  world  in 
movements  for  the  enfranchisement  of 
oppressed  races.  Whether  Jerusalem 
shall  in  our  day  be  the  rallying-point  of 
the  Jewish  nationality,  as  Athens  has  be- 
come of  the  re-established  Greeks,  and 
Rome  of  liberated  and  united  Italy — is  a 
mystery  whose  solution  is  known  only  to 
God.  But  beginning  with  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  Jew  as  a  man  in  the  land 
of  his  birth  or  adoption,  there  has  been 
a  steady  advance  in  modern  sentiment, 
finding  expression  at  Berlin  in  1878  in 
the  condition  imposed  upon  the  new 
sovereignties  of  Roumania  and  Servia,  in 
favor  of  religious  liberty  to  all  mankind,  in- 
cluding the  Jews.  The  generous  protest 
of  gifted  George  Eliot  may  yet  be  deemed 
prophetic  in  a  startling  realization  of  the 
hope  once  universal,  and  never  doubted 
by  the  man  whose  centennial  we  are  cele- 
brating— the  enfranchisement  of  the  Holy 
Land,  its  restoration  as  the  centre  of  a 


Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew     135 

reinvigorated  nationality.  Can  the  im- 
pression ever  be  effaced  from  our  memory 
of  the  great  work  for  emancipation  accom- 
plished and  stimulated  by  the  revered 
philanthropist  ? 

Irresistibly  we  recall  the  name  Cre- 
mieux — the  noble  record  of  the  "Alliance  " 
— the  10,000  Hebrew  children  in  eastern 
climes  whither  Montefiore  had  journeyed 
for  the  rescue  of  the  persecuted  fathers — 
now  gathered  in  schools,  which  train  them 
as  intelligent,  industrious,  and  faithful  Jewb 
and  citizens. 

A  colony  bearing  his  name  was  estab- 
lished in  Kansas  just  one  year  ago.  Ref- 
ugees from  Russian  persecution  fled 
thither  to  enjoy  in  America  the  privileges 
of  liberty.  No  tribute  received  by  Sir 
Moses  Montefiore  will  be  more  welcome 
to-day  than  the  scroll  exquisitely  written 
in  Hebrew  by  one  of  the  colonists,  ex- 
pressive of  their  heartfelt  sentiment,  and 
signed  by  the  ten  settlers  who  have  in 
their  first  year  of  freedom  found  them- 
selves the  peers  of  men  of  industry  and 
faithfulness  the  world  over.  Each  of  the 
ten  is  a  Montefiore  student — constrained 


136     Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew 

by  genuine  appreciation  of  the  con- 
trast between  the  past  and  the  pre- 
sent to  aid  in  his  way  the  work  of  bene- 
volence. And  no  greater  satisfaction 
to  the  human  mind  is  possible  than  that 
to  be  experienced  by  each  agent  in  this 
work. 

This  is  Montefiore's  monument, — the 
maintenance  of  his  name  as  symbolic  of 
true  Judaism,  of  true  philanthropy.  Its 
manifestation  takes  the  form  of  a  Home 
for  the  Aged  at  Cleveland,  a  College 
Professorship  at  Cincinnati,  a  Home  for 
Chronic  Invalids  in  New  York,  a  ward  in 
the  Philadelphia  Hospital,  divers  charita- 
ble plans  in  other  places,  religious  services 
throughout  the  civilized  world — the 
spirit  is  the  same  everywhere.  It  is  an 
irresistible  impulse  to  emulate  the  doing 
of  good  which  this  venerable  man  has 
made  his  life's  study.  It  is  an  impulse 
from  the  purest  source — directed  to  the 
highest  end. 

Thus  many  a  stream,  however  insignifi- 
cant its  origin  or  devious  its  winding, 
makes  its  way  surely  into  the  great  ocean 
of  human  existence,  deriving  its  vigor 


Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew     137 

from  the  life-giving  elements  collected  in 
its  course. 

At  a  period  when  man's  estimate  of  his 
fellow-man  is  based  upon  ephemeral  suc- 
cess rather  than  merit,  universal  acclaim 
pronounces  Montefiore's  fame  most  en- 
during. It  is  not  fortuitous  that  the  bene- 
factors of  the  human  race  should  be 
among  those  who  attain  great  age.  Con- 
templating affairs  from  a  higher  plane  than 
that  which  bounds  the  vision  of  mankind 
generally,  they  are  free  from  the  anxieties 
and  torments  incident  to  the  struggle  for 
existence.  They  have  made  their  peace 
with  the  world.  Even  a  great  sorrow 
leaves  upon  their  placid  existence  an  im- 
press which  resignation  and  faith  gently 
subdue  and  efface. 

Such  a  life  is  a  bulwark  which  sturdily 
resists  the  rushing  of  mighty  waters.  In 
an  age  of  self-seeking,  this  unselfish  man 
stands  firmly  as  a  rock,  and  pursues  his 
benevolent  purposes.  In  an  age  of  infi- 
delity, this  faithful  man  is  animated  by 
sterling  loyalty  which  embraces  his  native 
land  no  less  than  the  creed,  the  race, 
which  are  his  heritage.  In  an  age  when 


138     Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew 

Judaism  is  the  object  of  misconception 
and  ungenerous  and  unjust  assault,  when 
Jews  murmur  because  of  sacrifices  entailed 
by  Judaism,  he  is  a  relic  of  the  patriarchal 
times,  his  fidelity  to  the  most  exacting 
ceremony  regarded  with  respect  by  the 
non-conformist,  for  his  sincerity  is  univer- 
sally conceded,  his  religion  is  known  to 
be  dear  as  life  itself. 

Are  the  Hebrews  the  better  perma- 
nently for  such  an  example?  Is  Mon- 
tefiore's  name  emblazoned  upon  their 
banner  to  be  forgotten  in  less  than  a  gen- 
eration ? 

While  in  many  lands  heroes  are 
honored  with  statues  and  noble  struc- 
tures in  recognition  of  brilliant  conquests, 
while  there  rises,  too,  many  a  grateful 
shaft  in  memory  of  a  renowned  poet  or 
orator,  Montefiore  will  be  remembered  in 
the  freedom  he  has  gained  for  the  en- 
slaved, in  the  benevolent  institutions 
reared  by  him  or  under  his  inspiration. 
No  statue  designed  to  perpetuate  his 
form  and  features  can  define  the  Monte- 
fiore the  world  reveres — his  soul,  his 
spirit,  his  energy,  his  constancy  are 


Montefiore,  the  Ideal  Jew      139 

imperishably  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  time,  and  elevate  the  story  of  human 
effort  for  emancipation  from  material- 
ism. 


THE    PEOPLE  AND   THE   SYNA- 
GOGUE1 
I 

WHAT  is  the  mission  of  the  Synagogue  ? 
What  is  permanently  influential  in  the 
Synagogue  —  not  merely  the  individual 
house  of  prayer,  but  the  aggregation  of 
places  of  worship  in  a  country,  a  city,  a 
century, —  the  co-operation  of  this  force 
with  the  people,  occasionally  reverential, 
often  indifferent,  and  at  times  hostile  to 
the  idea  of  religion  which  implies  sacrifice, 
the  surrender  of  some  personal  independ- 
ence of  thought  or  action,  the  subordina- 
tion to  the  public  good  of  pleasure,  of 
apparent  interest  ? 

It  is  not  simply  a  question  of  ritual, 
changes  in  the  form  of  worship  as  centu- 
ries pass,  as  men  improve  or  deteriorate ; 
but  the  more  comprehensive  subject  — 
Synagogue  and  People  as  co-operative,  as 

1  Delivered  before  the  New  York  Section,  Council  of  Jewish 
Women,  February,  1903. 

140 


People  and  Synagogue        141 

identical  in  purpose,  as  reciprocally  moved 
by  forces  existing  through  the  ages. 

Perhaps  we  ought  to  consider  the 
Synagogue  as  a  Jewish  equivalent  for 
the  Church  —  sometimes  indissolubly  con- 
nected with  the  State,  sometimes  entirely 
independent  and  associated  intimately 
with  influences  foreign  to  political  envi- 
ronment. 

While  the  purpose  and  mission  of  the 
Synagogue  have  been  defined  in  diverse 
language  and  after  varying  standards,  it 
seems  quite  appropriate  to  begin  the 
study  with  a  reference  to  the  marvellously 
modern  address  delivered  at  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  about 
3000  years  ago.  The  orator  on  that  mem- 
orable day  was  a  personage  who,  if  now 
living,  would  be  hailed  as  easily  among 
the  leading  financial,  commercial,  military, 
and  intellectual  potentates  of  the  century. 
He  was  a  great  sovereign,  a  gifted  poet, 
a  profound  philosopher,  a  rare  diploma- 
tist, a  creator  of  armies  and  navies,  a 
superb  architect,  a  genius  in  music  and  in 
psalmody. 

But  whether  or  not  King  Solomon  is 


H2       People  and  Synagogue 

entitled  to  our  homage  as  a  perfect  man, 
an  example  for  all  ages  —  whether  or  not 
he  wrote  the  books  ascribed  to  him  — 
whether  or  not  the  prayer,  as  it  has  come 
down  to  us,  was  literally  his  composition, 
when  he  addressed  the  people  he  was  rec- 
ognized as  the  teacher,  the  organizer,  the 
leader,  the  man  of  power. 

The  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  the  tent  of 
the  assembly,  and  all  the  sacred  vessels 
had  been  brought  up  to  the  most  holy 
place  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  where 
for  four  hundred  years  the  worship  of 
God  was  to  be  maintained.  The  remote 
past,  the  magnificent  present,  the  un- 
known future,  are  united  in  the  grand 
picture  of  the  mission  of  the  Temple  — 
the  sanctuary  comprehending  the  Tablets 
of  Stone  confided  to  the  Ark  by  Moses 
five  hundred  years  before,  the  holy  ves- 
sels carried  by  Titus  in  his  triumph  after 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
second  Temple  nine  centuries  after  Sol- 
omon. There  are  millions  of  Jews  to-day 
who,  intelligent  citizens  of  empires  and 
republics  or  oppressed  subjects  of  the  des- 
pots still  surviving,  believe  in  God  and 


People  and  Synagogue        143 

His  Law,  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the 
Bible,  believe  in  the  truth  of  records  that 
connect  Moses,  Solomon,  and  the  Macca- 
bees and  the  last  defenders  of  Jerusalem 
carried  captive  to  Rome.  The  arch  of 
Titus,  standing  near  the  Tiber,  preserves 
the  forms  of  the  holy  vessels  taken  from 
the  Temple. 

It  is  recorded  that  the  King  offered  at 
this  dedication  a  sublime  prayer.  The 
compilers  of  our  liturgy  have  preserved  it. 
Beyond  and  above  all  the  special  occa- 
sions for  supplication  still  noted  in  the 
ritual  of  Christians  and  Jews  —  the  prayer 
for  rain  in  its  season,  for  rescue  from  en- 
emies, for  deliverance  from  plague,  dis- 
ease, and  famine  —  there  is  the  beautiful 
appeal  for  forgiveness  of  sin  as  any  man, 
or  all  the  people,  shall  ask  for  remission: 
11  Then  hear  thou  in  Heaven  thy  dwelling 
place  and  do  and  render  unto  every  man 
according  to  all  his  ways,  whose  heart  thou 
knowest,  for  thou  and  thou  only  know- 
est  the  hearts  of  all  the  children  of  man." 
Then  the  orator  prays  for  "  the  stranger, 
not  of  thy  people  Israel,  when  he  shall 
come  out  of  a  far  country  for  thy  name's 


144      People  and  Synagogue 

sake."  And  when  the  battle  is  waged 
against  the  enemy  God  is  asked  to  main- 
tain the  cause  of  Israel. 

II 

The  earlier  places  of  worship  —  the 
Tabernacle,  the  altars  set  up  in  patri- 
archal times,  the  various  sanctuaries  other 
than  the  Temple  —  did  not  possess  the 
permanence,  the  universality  of  the  Tem- 
ple at  Jerusalem,  towards  which  wherever 
Israelites  dwell  they  still  pray,  as  Sol- 
omon advised  and  directed  with  the  au- 
thority of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  head 
of  an  empire.  The  Jewish  nation  is  dis- 
persed and  has  ceased  to  be  an  entity 
—  the  race  is  still  alive  and  vigorous, 
though  often  reduced  by  material  pros- 
perity to  spiritual  penury.  The  Jewish  re- 
ligion cannot  die.  It  is  immortal.  The 
unity  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  man  — 
born  of  the  race  or  the  stranger  who  de- 
sires to  join  in  our  communion  or  who  is 
of  different  faith,  "-for  the  righteous  of 
all  nations  shall  have  a  portion  in  the 
world  to  come,"  —  these  essential  articles 
of  belief  and  practice,  creed  and  deed,  are 


People  and  Synagogue        145 

universal  and  it  is  the  mission  of  the  Syn- 
agogue to  perpetuate  their  maintenance. 
It  cannot  be  claimed  that  during  the 
entire  period  of  the  existence  of  the  Tem- 
ple—  the  first  and  the  second  Temple 

—  the  people  were  always  reverent  or  obe- 
dient to  the  Law.    Josiah,  indeed,  restored 
the  older   worship   and   destroyed  every 
vestige  of  idolatrous  symbols,  introduced 
by  his  predecessors.    While  the  first  Tem- 
ple existed,  king  after  king  led  the  people 
astray  and  prophet  after  prophet  met  the 
fate  of  reformers.    And  then  followed  the 
overthrow  of  the  kingdom  —  the  exile  — 
the  great  work  of  Ezra   and  Nehemiah 

—  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  —  the 
glorious  era  of  the  Maccabees  —  the  final 
destruction  of  the  Temple  by  the  Romans 
— the  wonderful  preservation  of  the  people 
and  their  religion,  while  the  exiles  thought 
of  Zion  and  wept  bitterly  as  they  recalled 
her  abasement.  Rome  was  cosmopolitan 

—  every  religion  was  tolerated  so  long  as 
the  professors  rendered  to  Caesar  his  due. 
Synagogues  were  numerous  and  the  move- 
ments of  Jews  kept  pace  with  the  empire 
as  it  colonized  the  Atlantic,  Asiatic,  and 


i46       People  and  Synagogue 

African  coasts  and  the  provinces  of  Eu- 
rope. Migrations  to  Alexandria  and  other 
cities  were  attended  with  prosperity  and 
spiritual  influence.  And  they  settled  in 
the  interior  of  Europe  —  the  kingdom  of 
Poland  treating  the  Jews  justly  —  the  Cru- 
saders pillaging  the  Jews  on  the  way  to 
fight  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

The  political  and  social  as  well  as  the 
religious  activity  of  the  Jewish  people  — 
a  nation  already  marked  for  conquest  and 
destruction  —  was  centred  in  the  Tem- 
ple. Fidelity  to  the  Law  alternated  with 
surrender  to  malign  external  influences, 
to  selfishness  and  corruption.  Jews,  dis- 
persed, denied  equality  of  rights,  com- 
pelled to  stand  together  for  defence  against 
a  common  enemy,  for  appeal  to  an  appar- 
ent protector,  sought  an  intellectual  and  a 
spiritual  refuge,  a  centre  of  social  and  relig- 
ious life  —  and  found  it  in  the  Synagogue. 
Why  dwell  upon  the  melancholy  story 
of  the  centuries  prior  to  the  nineteenth  ? 
Except  in  the  United  States,  England, 
Holland,  and  France,  Jews  were  until  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  foreign- 
ers wherever  they  dwelt.  While  individuals 


People  and  Synagogue        147 

professing  the  Jewish  faith  and  preserving 
racial  characteristics  differing  from  those 
of  the  peasant  and  the  nobles  of  their  vi- 
cinage were  separated  all  the  time  except 
as  the  exigencies  of  trade  compelled  some 
contact  between  the  Semite  and  the  Aryan, 
the  keen  necessity  for  relief  from  mental 
and  physical  depression  stimulated  the 
devotion  of  these  people  to  religion  and 
Hebrew  study.  The  Synagogue  and  the 
school  were  together  the  centre  of  Jewish 
life  in  the  middle  ages.  The  industry  and 
persistence  of  recent  Jewish  students  and 
writers,  whose  works  are  accessible  in  the 
original  or  in  translation,  have  disclosed 
the  undying  influence  of  the  Synagogue 
during  these  centuries  of  oppression  and 
persecution. 

Ill 

We  hear  of  the  Ghetto  as  suggestive  of 
darkness  and  degradation.  While  all 
around  was  darkness,  the  Ghetto,  like 
the  land  of  Goshen  in  the  days  of  Pharaoh, 
was  an  illumination  for  the  ages.  Jews, 
faithful  to  their  religion,  were  distin- 
guished in  Spain  and  Portugal  for  what- 


148      People  and  Synagogue 

ever  dignifies  and  ennobles  the  individual 
man,  until  Torquemada,  the  Pobiednostzeff 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  conspired  with 
the  other  inquisitors  and  created  public 
opinion  compelling  the  exile  of  the  very 
best  of  the  residents  of  Iberia.  Jews, 
faithful  to  their  religion,  lived  together  "in 
the  Ghettos  of  Frankfort,  Worms,  Prague, 
Rome,  Venice,  and  their  piety,  profound 
learning,  wondrous  love  of  letters,  fidelity 
to  home,  to  the  Law,  extended  beyond 
the  gates,  excluding  them  from  associa- 
tion with  the  peasants  and  the  nobles, 
ignorant  and  cruel,  rapacious  and  super- 
stitious, whose  record  strangely  recalls 
that  of  the  modern  Roumanian.  Whether 
in  Spain  as  honored  subjects,  or  in  the 
Ghetto  as  despised  foreigners,  the  Syna- 
gogue was  the  centre  of  life  for  the  Jew — 
Toledo  and  Prague  tell  the  same  story. 
And  in  the  general  revival  of  learning, 
Jewish  scholars  were  distinguished.  His- 
tory does  them  the  justice  of  appreciation 
of  their  intellectual  powers — their  leader- 
ship in  various  departments  of  knowledge. 
With  the  German  struggle  for  liberty, 
the  activity  of  the  Synagogue  assumed  a 


People  and  Synagogue        149 

new  phase.  British,  French,  Dutch,  and 
Italians  professing  the  Jewish  faith  con- 
tinued conservative,  while  the  established 
Church  constrained  some  legal  inferiority 
to  continue  the  portion  of  the  Syna- 
gogue even  in  comparatively  liberal  Eng- 
land until  political  equality  was  followed 
by  recognition  of  manhood  as  the  single 
test  applied  to  Jew  and  Christian  alike. 
The  people  who  were  British  by  nation- 
ality and  Jews  in  creed  maintained  the 
waiting  attitude  characteristic  of  their  sur- 
roundings— Germans  were  instantly  ani- 
mated by  the  spirit  of  progress,  and  were 
not  greatly  disturbed  by  the  snubs  and 
political  conditions  which  interfered  with 
their  plans  for  putting  Judaism  forward. 

IV 

In  1846,  a  Synagogue  was  dedicated  in 
New  York,  whose  membership  included 
most  of  the  English  and  American  Jews 
following  the  German  or  Polish  minhag. 
The  Portuguese  congregation  had  endured 
for  nearly  a  century  and  still  exists.  The 
Jewish  population  of  New  York  may  have 
exceeded  a  thousand  souls.  The  German 


150       People  and  Synagogue 

immigration  began  very  shortly,  and 
in  1850  there  were  several  German  Syna- 
gogues, some  of  which  survive,  and  are 
influential.  At  first,  the  Synagogue  was 
universally  maintained  in  its  solitary  dig- 
nity not  merely  as  a  place  of  worship,  but 
as  a  charitable  and  social  centre — each 
Synagogue  its  own  arbiter  of  manners  and 
morals. 

One  little  Synagogue  on  Wooster 
Street  was  the  most  imposing  architec- 
turally— the  Greene  Street  building  soon 
rivalled  it.  Individual  Jews  were  making 
their  way.  When  the  war  of  1861  broke 
out,  there  were  citizens  of  the  Jewish  faith 
who  entered  the  national  service,  and 
others  contributed  to  the  Defence  Fund, 
the  Sanitary  Fair,  and  like  patriotic  work. 
The  ministers  of  the  leading  Synagogues 
— Crosby,  Wooster,  and  Greene  Streets — 
were  well-known  and  honored  by  the  gen- 
eral public,  and  they  were  leaders,  like  Dr. 
Bellows,  Dr.  Chapin,  Dr.  Tyng,  and  the 
Catholic  prelates.  Temple  Emanuel  was 
in  Twelfth  Street,  and  its  venerable  Rabbi 
was  beginning  to  be  known  in  America  as 
a  profound  scholar.  Then  Dr.  Fischel 


People  and  Synagogue       151 

became  an  army  chaplain,  visiting  the 
camps  near  Washington.  Dr.  Raphall 
was  positive  as  a  defender  of  slavery. 
Rev.  S.  M.  Isaacs  was  respected  as  a 
faithful  preacher  and  teacher  and  a  citi- 
zen of  anti-slavery  views.  Dr.  Einhorn, 
too  liberal  and  too  northern  in  sentiment, 
left  Baltimore  for  Philadelphia,  and  ulti- 
mately came  to  New  York. 

After  the  war,  shoddy.  After  the  "  in- 
dustry, simplicity,  and  vigilance  of  the 
forefathers  "  came  the  prosperity,  the  pre- 
tence, the  extravagance  of  the  era  of 
Gould  and  Fisk.  How  could  individual 
Jews  escape  the  contagion  ?  They  did 
not  escape.  They  were  no  better  than 
their  neighbors. 

Before  the  war,  as  in  olden  times,  the 
Synagogue  was  the  centre.  When  a 
mother  had  been  blessed  with  a  child,  she 
visited  the  Synagogue  at  a  convenient 
season  and  the  minister  prayed  with  her. 
When  the  boy  attained  his  thirteenth 
year,  his  family  and  the  entire  congrega- 
tion sympathetically  listened  to  the  lad 
lisping  his  vow  of  fidelity,  as  did  the  Chris- 
tian knight  in  the  era  of  chivalry;  and,  after 


152       People  and  Synagogue 

service,  there  was  open  house  and  there 
were  generous  remembrances  for  the  poor. 
When  the  young  man  was  about  to  marry, 
he  attended  the  Synagogue  the  Sabbath 
before  the  wedding,  and  was  called  to  read 
or  hear  a  portion  of  the  Law.  Congratu- 
lations were  universal.  When  sorrow 
overtook  a  family,  the  entire  body  sympa- 
thized. There  were  members  who  relig- 
iously attended  every  funeral  and  walked 
to  the  cemetery  or  the  ferry.  Each  Jewish 
festival  was  cheerfully  observed.  Chan- 
uka,  Purim,  the  Rejoicing  of  the  Law, 
each  had  its  appropriate  celebration,  its 
favorite  melody  harmoniously  attuned  and 
the  whole  congregation  joining.  Needless 
to  speak  of  the  solemn  days.  The  Sab- 
bath was  a  delight. 

After  the  war,  the  financial  issue  predom- 
inated. Eligibility  as  trustee  passed  away 
from  the  class  of  observant  members, 
men  who  knew  something  of  the  Mosaic 
Law  and  the  ritual,  and  the  successful 
candidate  usually  owed  his  popularity  to 
his  purse  or  his  prominence  as  a  mer- 
chant. The  minister,  except  in  rare  in- 
stances, was  subordinate  to  the  president. 


People  and  Synagogue       153 

The  pulpit  was  reduced  to  the  ranks,  there 
was  no  place  for  the  standard  bearer. 


Now  we  come  to  the  parting  of  the  ways. 
The  contest  was  unequal.  German  phi- 
losophy and  progress  won  the  day ;  and 
in  part  it  was  natural  and  fortunate. 
But  "  Historical  Judaism,"  whether  consid- 
ered in  connection  with  Judaism  or  with 
history,  was  to  be  relegated  to  the  rear. 
Had  the  re-organizers  been  as  well  in- 
formed in  ecclesiastical  matters  as  they 
were  in  commerce  and  finance,  they  would 
have  done  less  injury.  At  least  they 
would  have  conceded  that  the  minister 
was  an  expert.  But  they  had  demanded 
too  much  of  the  mere  scholar  and  theolo- 
gian. He  was  to  read  into  Moses,  Isaiah, 
Ezekiel,  Ezra,  and  Nehemiah  something 
essentially  local,  temporary,  commercial, 
and  modern. 

At  first,  slight  changes  in  the  ritual 
were  suggested  and  adopted.  Then  es- 
sentials were  attacked.  Then  the  customs 
of  the  churches  were  insisted  on.  Histor- 
ical Judaism  —  not  alone  local  customs  of 


154       People  and  Synagogue 

a  German  or  a  Polish  village,  but  provi- 
sions of  the  Mosaic  Law  as  preserved  un- 
til this  century  and  now  more  than  ever 
regarded  with  respect  by  scholars,  Jewish 
and  Christian  —  was  no  longer  the  guide. 
New  prayer  books  were  written  and  pub- 
lished and  actually  used,  to  be  put  aside 
for  other  books  with  a  change  of  adminis- 
tration. The  sympathy  of  the  member  of 
a  congregation  with  the  Synagogue  idea 
was  supplanted  by  the  unskilful  adaptation 
of  advanced  thoughts  for  a  population 
hardly  prepared  for  their  apprehension. 
And  now  ?  Ethical  Culture  contemplates 
the  restoration  of  ceremonies. 

Be  it  understood  that  the  Temple  at  Je- 
rusalem was  the  place  of  worship  for  all 
—  including  even  the  stranger  ;  that  the 
Synagogue  in  the  early  centuries  of  the  dis- 
persion, in  the  middle  ages,  and  in  modern 
times  was  not  simply  the  building  where 
stated  religious  services  were  conducted, 
but  each  Synagogue  and  all  Synagogues 
combined  stood  for  a  religious  body  hav- 
ing in  common  social  and  political  needs 
and  aspirations.  The  Synagogue,  like  the 
Church,  was  firm  in  adherence  to  law,  was 


People  and  Synagogue       155 

intolerant  of  dissent,  was  often  unjust  to 
men  of  light  and  leading,  but  bore  a  nota- 
ble part  in  the  entire  work  of  the  whole 
community. 

Divine  service  is  not  the  only  sphere 
of  the  Synagogue.  Its  influence  in  recent 
days  has  been  weakened  not  alone  by 
irrational  and  inconsistent  changes  in  the 
ritual,  but  by  the  action  of  the  community 
in  withholding  from  the  Synagogue  its 
centripetal  force.  Education,  charity, 
social  functions,  still  demanded  a  centre 
and  united  action.  In  place  of  the  Syna- 
gogue, there  sprang  up  indispensable 
agencies  which  enlisted  the  sympathy  and 
devotion  of  the  people.  While  in  the 
middle  ages  and  down  to  the  very  modern 
period  every  communal  movement  began 
in  the  Synagogue,  the  recent  tendency  is 
away  from  the  Synagogue,  except  only  as 
a  place  of  worship  crowded  three  times  a 
year,  and  open  twice  a  week  for  advice  and 
consolation  to  mourners,  and  affording 
stated  opportunities  for  criticism  of  minis- 
ter and  choir. 

The  power  of  the  Synagogue  had 
waned,  largely  because  of  unintelligent 


i56       People  and  Synagogue 

tampering  with  the  liturgy.  A  poet's 
pride  sometimes  moved  a  minister  to  write 
an  ode  or  a  hymn  which  must  be  heard  in 
the  Temple.  A  famous  Christian  clergy- 
man refers  to  the  twelve  hundred  hymns 
in  the  church  book,  while  so  few  strike  the 
heart.  Happily,  there  is  a  desire  to  return 
to  the  Psalms,  and  to  melodies  familiar 
and  charming  because  of  associations.  A 
Union  Prayer  Book  is  itself  a  step  forward 
but,  strange  to  say,  it  is  most  successful 
where  it  retains  the  ancient  language, 
either  the  Hebrew  of  the  King  James 
English  version. 

Now,  apart  from  the  service,  there  are 
signs  of  a  return  to  the  simplicity  of  our 
fathers.  The  Sisterhood,  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's Society,  the  occasional  conferences  of 
officials,  the  constant  use  of  the  Temple 
rooms  for  communal  meetings,  illustrate  a 
refreshing  appreciation  of  the  Synagogue's 
mission,  as  a  centre  of  religious,  educa- 
tional, benevolent,  and  social  activity. 

One  general  criticism — the  Synagogue, 
representing  a  large  investment,  is  used 
inadequately.  Why  should  not  Syna- 
gogues, like  some  churches,  be  open  all 


People  and  Synagogue       157 

day  for  rest  and  meditation  ?  A  happy 
thought  was  the  People's  Synagogue  in 
the  Hebrew  Institute — where  a  model 
service  arouses  preoccupied  residents  of 
the  crowded  section  ;  and,  especially,  that 
inspiration  of  the  old  Hebrew  Free  School 
Association,  the  children's  service  on  Sab- 
bath afternoons. 

Naturally,  the  Jewish  Sabbath  looms 
up  as  a  serious  question.  In  these  days 
of  close  business  competition,  it  is  very 
difficult  for  men  in  commercial  and  finan- 
cial circles  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  prac- 
tice of  closing  stores  and  offices  on  Sat- 
urday— the  half-holiday  notwithstanding. 

If  so,  what  obstacle  exists  to  attending 
the  afternoon  service  with  one's  wife  and 
children  ?  Why  not  resume  the  old-fash- 
ioned Friday  evening  consecrated  to  home 
— to  family  service — to  family  reunion — to 
the  loveliest,  most  potent,  most  enduring 
influence  for  spiritual  awakening  ?  I  would 
plead  for  this  restoration,  and  insist  that 
whatever  philosophical  research  or  the 
higher  criticism  may  be  able  to  demon- 
strate as  to  the  construction  of  some  Bible 
verses,  chapters  or  books — as  to  the  iden- 


158      People  and  Synagogue 

tity  of  this  or  that  ancient  Jewish  cere- 
mony with  an  Egyptian  or  a  Babylonian 
custom — however  modern  ideas  may  be 
inconsistent  with  the  retention  of  one  or 
another  regulation,  based  upon  Mosaic 
Law — no  matter  what  reason  there  may  be 
for  abandoning  the  custom  of  Warsaw  or 
Worms  or  Nuremberg — despite  all  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  a  surpliced  choir,  or  a 
flute  instead  of  a  shofar,  or  an  Italian 
baritone  rather  than  the  Polish  chazan,  or 
an  all-English  instead  of  an  all-Hebrew 
liturgy — nothing  has  "been  advanced  that 
can  possibly  supersede  Friday  night  in  the 
Jewish  home. 

As  a  matter  of  justice,  it  should  be 
stated  that  possibly  the  church  exerts  no 
greater  influence  than  the  Synagogue  in 
attracting  constant  attendance  at  regular 
service.  A  fashionable  church  on  Sunday 
often  illustrates  the  unwillingness  of  the 
men  to  give  up  their  home  occupations 
and  club  amusements.  Some  sensation, 
some  special  call,  fills  the  church.  The 
Jew  has  an  additional  excuse — Saturday 
is  "  his  busy  day." 

The  question   of   Sabbath    observance 


People  and  Synagogue       159 

is  one  of  Will,  of  Duty.  The  real  diffi- 
culty is  in  the  lack  of  principle — of  moral 
education.  True  courage  is  manifested  by 
doing  one's  duty  though  the  act  involves 
sacrifices. 

VI 

We  have  always  been  in  a  minority. 
Men  of  principle  are  commonly  in  the 
minority.  Shall  we  therefore  yield  and 
surrender  to  expediency?  Shall  we  do 
wrong,  because  it  is  easier  ?  Shall  we  vio- 
late the  Law  which  God  promulgated  on 
Sinai,  because  it  is  less  of  a  sacrifice  than 
to  hear  and  to  obey  ? 

Yes,  sacrifice  for  principle  is  unfash- 
ionable— abandon  the  practice  !  Yet  half 
a  million  of  men  and  women  exiled  them- 
selves from  home  and  country  rather  than 
give  up  their  religion — and  this  within  the 
past  twenty  years,  and  before  our  eyes. 

Principle  is  to  be  abandoned  because 
honesty  seems  to  be  unremunerative  ;  the 
merchant  who  pays  his  debts  and  taxes 
cannot  apparently  compete  with  the  bank- 
rupt and  the  man  who  evades  duties — and 
must  he  therefore  discontinue  the  sacrifice? 


160        People  and  Synagogue 

Have  the  times  changed  so  completely 
that  the  Sabbath  cannot  be  observed? 
Men  who  break  the  Sabbath  are  not 
necessarily  successful. 

Observing  the  Sabbath  may  result  in 
the  temporary  advancement  of  others  to 
our  apparent  loss — but  it  is  not  a  real  loss. 
In  the  olden  time,  when  the  successful 
Jews  in  this  town  were  conformists,  we 
had  a  better  standing  in  the  community 
because  of  this  fidelity  to  principle. 

Sabbath  observance  is  entirely  practica- 
ble in  this  State.  It  is  simply  a  question 
of  obedience  to  law  whatever  the  sacrifice. 

The  sacrifice  may  be  minimized  if  those 
in  a  particular  department  of  manufacture 
or  trade,  and  of  whom  a  majority  are  of 
the  Jewish  faith,  would  combine  and  close 
their  places  of  business  all  day  Saturday. 
But  the  sacrifice  must  be  made.  This  is 
a  difficult  problem,  but  it  is  not  impossi- 
ble of  solution.  The  entire  question  nar- 
rows down  to  this :  do  people  appreciate 
a  simple,  quiet,  and  modest  life  ?  Is  the 
social  jury  which  passes  upon  a  man's 
right  to  respect  on  the  part  of  his  neigh- 
bors determined  to  weigh  merits  on  the 


People  and  Synagogue       161 

scales  which  some  grocers  use — quantity 
irrespective  of  quality  or  percentage  of 
adulteration?  If  by  common  consent 
ostentation  is  condemned,  then  the  citizen 
of  upright  life  can  retain  his  standing 
although  he  does  not  indulge  in  extrava- 
gance, and  can  observe  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath though  it  seems  to  involve  pecuniary 
sacrifice.  If  we  strive  all  together  to  re- 
store to  Judaism  the  simplicity,  firmness, 
and  purity  which  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  de- 
veloped on  their  return  to  Jerusalem  to 
rebuild  the  Temple,  we  shall  do  our  duty 
and  there  is  constant  comfort  and  delight 
in  the  very  contemplation  of  such  faithful- 
ness and  resolution. 

VII 

Is  it  not  possible  that  the  logic  of  the 
situation  demands  a  popular  awakening — 
rather  than  the  abandonment  of  Judaism 
or  a  radical  change  in  the  form  of  worship  ? 

Admitting  that  forms  change,  there  is  a 
demand  for  the  education  of  men  and  wo- 
men up  to  the  standard  of  firmness,  rever- 
ence, fidelity,  which,  in  ancient  days,  and 


1 62        People  and  Synagogue 

within  the  memory  of  the  older  genera- 
tion, characterized  the  practice  of  Judaism. 

We  are  in  a  land  which  moves  rapidly 
in  material  things.  We  are  carried  away 
by  this  spirit  of  progress.  Materialism 
gains  ground  everywhere,  so  that  the 
Church  and  the  Synagogue  alike  suffer. 
As  a  distinguished  college  president  says  : 
"  The  whole  nation  stands  in  need  of  bet- 
ter manners,  a  soberer  discipline,  a  quieter 
tone,  more  spiritual  sturdiness,  less  exal- 
tation of  hardness  and  success."  Sunday 
is  no  longer  spiritual -in  its  opportunities, 
environment,  and  influence.  Why  should 
Saturday  rest  be  a  stronger  spiritual  force 
than  Sunday  freedom  from  business  cares  ? 

Evidently,  the  Synagogue  owes  a  duty 
to  the  people — but  this  duty  consists 
essentially  in  adaptability  for  all  time  or 
at  least  for  a  generation  that  shall  carry 
forward  to  the  next  generation  the  blessed 
influence  of  holiness  and  reverence.  The 
Synagogue  cannot  change  with  the  whim 
of  every  fresh  trustee,  who,  being  a  finan- 
cial power,  must  be  worshipped  as  an  in- 
spired theologian.  The  pulpit  should  still 
rule  the  pew — at  least  to  the  extent  of  re- 


People  and  Synagogue       163 

quiring  conformity  to  law,  traditions,  his- 
torical Judaism.  Let  the  pew  regulate 
finance  and  order. 

The  question  is,  rather,  what  is  the  duty 
of  the  people  towards  the  Synagogue  ? 
And  here  we  perceive  that  in  the  past  the 
Synagogue  has  proved  its  right  of  exist- 
ence— its  claim  upon  the  respect  of  con- 
temporaries, the  student  of  history  and  the 
Jewish  body.  It  is  still  to-day,  whether 
orthodox  or  reform,  entitled  to  the  like 
respect  when  conducted  in  an  orderly 
manner  and  conscientiously  according  to 
the  law  and  the  statute  which  it  is  main- 
taining from  century  to  century. 

VIII 

We  need  a  united  Synagogue  repre- 
senting all  the  places  of  worship  in  the 
city.  It  would  impress  its  great  power 
upon  local  and  national  movements  for 
education  and  progress,  for  purity  in  public 
and  in  private  life,  for  the  true  American 
advancement  of  all  the  people.  The  lead- 
ers of  such  a  united  congregation,  with 
which  benevolent  and  educational  societies 


164        People  and  Synagogue 

might  affiliate,  would  be  respected  as 
standing  for  the  whole  body.  It  would  be 
inspiring  were  all  the  congregations  to 
hold  union  services  at  certain  times — 
Thanksgiving  and  other  national  holidays. 
Occasionally  several  ministers  would  oc- 
cupy the  common  platform.  United  ac- 
tion is  demanded  for  adequate  measures 
to  promote  Hebrew  and  religious  educa- 
tion. Existing  schools  are  confessedly 
insufficient.  Limited  provision  is  made 
for  the  many  thousands  of  children  not 
connected  with  any  Synagogue. 

United  action  would  promote  the  wise 
and  potential  measures  common  to  other 
denominations  which  impress  their  influ- 
ence upon  affairs  outside  the  strict  prov- 
ince of  the  church. 

The  disinterested  zeal  of  our  ministers 
has  been  manifested  but  the  people  are 
backward  in  supporting  the  ministers'  as- 
sociation, not  infrequently  claiming  that 
the  interference  of  the  clergy  is  a  hin- 
drance. Why  do  not  the  laymen  co-oper- 
ate with  the  clergy  and  strengthen  their 
hands  ?  With  a  real  union  of  congrega- 
tions and  societies  in  every  large  city,  all 


People  and  Synagogue       165 

the  communal  work  would  be  fully  pro- 
vided for.  This  applies  to  the  mission,  so- 
called,  committed  partly  to  the  Jewish 
Women's  Council,  partly  to  individuals — 
and  wholly  inadequate  to  the  pressing 
demand. 

In  the  department  of  benevolence  there 
is  little  opportunity  for  censure.  The  gen- 
erosity of  a  few  men  has  recently  strength- 
ened the  Synagogue  in  its  weakest  part 
—  the  preparation  of  ministers  and  teach- 
ers under  the  guidance  of  a  distinguished 
Hebrew  scholar  to  carry  on  to  coming 
generations  the  Judaism  which  we  believe 
to  be  permanent  and  a  perpetual  light  to 
the  nations.  When  the  Jews  of  Spain  wor- 
shipped secretly  to  escape  the  Inquisition, 
when  the  Jews  of  Germany  met  at  their 
modest  Synagogues  in  terror  lest  some 
military  or  political  force  should  hale  them 
to  martyrdom,  when  the  down  trodden 
Jews  of  Russia  and  Poland  assembled  in 
their  houses  of  God  "to  pray,  to  learn,  and 
to  teach"  while  they  were  crushed  by 
odious  laws  and  cruel  neighbors  —  there 
were  always  brilliant,  magnificent,  power- 
ful spiritual  leaders  inspired  to  heroic  de- 


1 66       People  and  Synagogue 

votion  by  the  ancestral  faith  and  history. 
In  our  days  of  prosperity  we  owe  it  to 
ourselves  as  well  as  our  religion  and  to 
God  that  we  should  develop  in  modern 
Judaism  a  spiritual  power  at  least  keeping 
it  abreast  with  the  progress  of  denomi- 
national movements  of  the  century. 

However  men  may  differ  as  to  the  pres- 
ent adaptability  of  the  Synagogue  to  the 
kaleidoscopic  requirements  of  the  age, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  duty  of  the 
people  to  rise  to  the  standard  which  the 
Synagogue  set  in  Judea,  in  the  Disper- 
sion, in  the  glorious  days  of  prosperity, 
in  the  sorrowful  and  disastrous  period 
which,  affecting  all  Europe  in  the  middle 
ages,  still  crops  out  in  some  benighted 
lands.  Without  the  Synagogue,  Judaism 
must  have  perished,  except  as  a  cult  of 
antiquarian  interest.  It  is  not  fortuitous 
that  Judaism  alone  remains  of  all  ancient 
religions  and  civilizations.  The  divine  gift 
to  the  Jewish  people,  The  Law,  preserved 
the  descendants  of  Abraham,  escaped  from 
Egyptian  bondage,  led  through  the  wilder- 
ness to  the  Promised  Land,  constituted  a 
nation  able  to  cope  with  military  powers, 


People  and  Synagogue       167 

subject  to  their  own  government,  republic 
and  kingdom,  enduring  for  centuries  and 
then  finally  vanquished  and  dispersed  — 
preserved  the  Israelites  from  the  cor- 
ruption and  decadence,  the  fate  of  all 
other  races  —  preserved  them  individually 
amid  the  horrors  of  persecution  —  and  now 
the  Synagogue,  where  the  Law  is  read 
and  expounded,  claims  and  demands  our 
fealty,  our  support,  our  resolute,  loyal  de- 
termination that  it  shall  continue  a  blessed 
influence  from  generation  to  generation. 


BARON  DE  HIRSCH1 

BARON  DE  HIRSCH  may  be  regarded  as 
the  central  figure  of  an  emancipation 
movement  which  cannot  end  until  the 
Jews  of  Russia  are  recognized,  either  in 
the  empire  or  in  their  new  homes,  as  en- 
titled to  equal  rights  with  other  men.  In 
ancient  days,  when  the  sufferings  of  the 
Israelites  appeared  to  be  beyond  solace  or 
relief,  a  leader  arose,  who,  in  God's  name, 
saved  the  people.  Thus  the  majestic  Mo- 
ses led  his  brethren  out  of  Egypt  to  re- 
ceive the  immortal  gift  of  the  Law.  David, 
the  shepherd  king,  delivered  his  people 
from  the  Philistines  and  made  Judea  a 
power.  Manasseh  ben  Israel  brought  about 
the  restoration  of  the  exiled  Jews  of  Great 
Britain.  Mendelssohn  compelled  the  im- 
partial treatment  of  the  Jews  of  Germany. 
Montefiore  spent  half  a  century  of  a  glori- 
ous life  in  securing  religious  liberty  for 
the  Jews  of  Eastern  Europe. 

In  our  era,  the  forces  that  make  for  the 

1  Delivered  at  the  banquet  to  Jesse  Seligman,  Oct.  i,  1891. 
168 


Baron  de  Hirsch  169 

liberation  of  the  oppressed  are  moral  and 
material.  He  who  would  penetrate  the 
hardened  heart  of  the  modern  Pharaoh 
must  not  only  be  the  philanthropist  but 
essentially  the  man  of  affairs. 

Baron  de  Hirsch  is  the  man  for  the 
times  —  the  exiles'  friend  and  sturdy  pro- 
tector. He  has  attained  a  commanding 
position  socially  and  financially.  He  is 
a  man  of  affairs  in  the  highest  sense  — 
a  statesman  who  has  studied  the  Jewish 
question  with  a  thoroughness  demon- 
strating his  intellectual  power  —  a  philan- 
thropist who  has  espoused  a  cause  and 
stimulated  men  the  world  over  to  follow 
his  lead  —  a  Jew  who  believes  in  the  right 
of  his  brethren  to  exist  in  the  land  of  their 
birth  to  advance  to  equality  with  their 
neighbors ;  who  perceives  their  capacity 
and  fidelity  amid  the  most  discouraging 
surroundings,  and  who  pins  his  faith  upon 
their  restoration  as  an  agricultural  people. 

He  has  proved  his  faith  by  his  works 
—  the  devotion  of  an  immense  fortune  to 
the  cause  he  has  at  heart  —  a  deed  of 
philanthropy  exceeding  in  design,  in  mag- 
nitude, and  in  far-reaching  consequences 


i  ?o  Baron  de  Hirsch 

anything  that  one  man  has  ever  done  or 
contemplated  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow- 
men. 

He  has  assented  to  the  expatriation  of 
the  Jews  of  Russia,  provided  it  be  at- 
tended with  the  least  possible  friction  and 
suffering.  The  proposition  advanced  in 
the  interest  of  humanity  is  accepted  by 
Russia,  if  at  all,  because  any  other  pol- 
icy involves  irreparable  financial  disaster 
throughout  the  empire. 

The  press  has  educated  the  Western 
World  to  the  knowledge  of  the  cruelty  and 
bitterness  of  this  expulsion  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  whose  sole  claim  upon  the 
merciless  consideration  of  the  Russian 
Government  is  their  fidelity  to  their 
ancestral  religion.  They  have  accepted 
exile  as  the  only  alternative.  Of  their  an- 
guish and  torture,  mental  and  physical,  on 
their  way  from  their  ruined  homes,  once 
the  centre  of  joy,  activity,  and  family  dig- 
nity, to  the  border  where  armed  sentinels 
and  unarmed  ruffians  dispute  their  prog- 
ress and  complete  the  pillage  begun  by  the 
police  —  the  sad,  pathetic,  tragic  tale  has 
been  told  a  hundred  times.  Some  later 


Baron  de  Hirsch  171 

Homer  may  recite  the  wanderings  of  these 
sorely  tried  wayfarers,  and  tell  of  their 
perils  between  the  Scylla  and  Charybdis  of 
the  frontier.  Nor  need  I  dwell  upon  the 
sorrows  of  their  sojourn  in  Germany  — 
denied  every  right  but  that  of  promptly 
embarking  for  the  New  World  —  or  of 
the  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  amid  the 
discomfort  and  distress  of  the  steerage. 

And  now  they  have  reached  the  harbor 
of  our  goodly  city  whose  very  guardian 
spirit  is  embodied  in  the  Statue  of  Lib- 
erty ;  and  friends  appear  who  accord  them 
sympathy  and  justice  —  denied  in  inhos- 
pitable Russia  where  the  virtues  of  sobri- 
ety, family  affection,  industry,  and  energy 
are  contemned. 

Here  begins  our  duty  —  taking  up  the 
burden  which  brotherhood  distributes  un- 
equally. Happily  our  generous  guide  has 
found  some  energetic  followers  here  with 
"  the  heart  to  feel,  the  mind  to  plan,  the 
strength  to  execute"  the  noble  work  of 
rescue. 

We  find  the  exile  slow  to  apprehend 
the  conditions  of  his  new  home.  He 
yearns  for  his  village  surroundings,  how- 


1 72  Baron  de  Hirsch 

ever  repellent  they  may  seem  to  us  and 
to  him  in  later  years.  We  must  remove 
him  from  the  crowded  city  —  that  part 
of  it  which  he  seeks, —  the  tenement  sec- 
tion with  its  atmosphere  and  occupations 
dwarfing  body  and  soul.  He  must  not 
live  in  a  new  Ghetto.  He  must  be  pre- 
pared for  American  life  and  methods  of 
work.  He  is  diligent,  pious,  resolute,  in- 
dustrious, and  ambitious.  He  loves  his 
family.  We  must  teach  him  to  love  the 
land  of  his  adoption  —  to  honor  the  repub- 
lic in  the  high  types  of  American  citizen- 
ship we  may  present  for  his  study  and 
imitation.  He  will  learn  that  there  is  one 
law  for  rich  and  poor  —  there  is  no  such 
distinction  as  that  obtaining  in  Russia  be- 
tween noble  and  peasant  —  he  can  live 
and  earn  his  bread  without  being  obliged 
to  bribe  an  official  for  the  privilege  —  his 
children  may  freely  attend  the  public 
schools  and  will  not  be  excluded  because 
of  the  fear  that  they  will  prove  dangerous 
competitors  in  the  struggle  for  life  —  their 
intellect  against  the  sloth,  the  lethargy, 
and  shiftlessness  of  the  Russian  peasant. 
He  learns  of  loyalty  to  the  flag  —  that 


Baron  de  Hirsch  173 

there  is  no  emperor  or  governor  at  whose 
beck  he  may  be  railroaded  to  Siberia  for 
dreaming  of  liberty.  Here,  the  Jew  is  a 
man.  If  he  deserves  it,  he  will  win  and 
preserve  the  good-will  and  respect  of  his 
fellow-men.  He  may  be  a  college  pro- 
fessor, he  may  manage  a  great  railroad, 
he  may  command  a  regiment,  he  may 
pay  or  collect  taxes,  he  is  among  the  brave 
leaders  and  the  humble  followers  in  deeds 
of  courage  and  mercy. 

To  make  a  man  out  of  this  lowly  vil- 
lager is  our  duty.  To  create  a  loyal 
American  out  of  this  victim  of  tyranny  is 
our  duty.  To  prove  to  the  American  peo- 
ple that  we  are  justified  in  our  faith  in  the 
capacity  of  these  exiles  to  become  good  cit- 
izens— farmers  or  mechanics,  merchants 
or  students,  but  always  loyal,  generous, 
upright  lovers  of  the  Republic  Washington 
founded  and  Lincoln  saved  —  the  repub- 
lic which  lives  in  the  immortal  works  of 
Franklin,  Jefferson,  Emerson,  Longfellow, 
Cooper,  Prescott,  Lowell  —  this,  this,  is 
our  duty. 

Are  we  ready  to  do  our  duty?  Will 
each  of  us  say  with  Baron  de  Hirsch,  "  I 


174  Baron  de  Hirsch 

consider  myself  only  the  temporary  ad- 
ministrator of  my  wealth ;  it  is  my  duty 
to  contribute  to  the  relief  of  men  hard 
pressed  by  fate." 

Noble  words  !  Do  they  not  move  us  ? 
May  I  not  trespass  upon  the  courtesy  of 
this  assemblage  and  ask  you  to  act  upon 
this  counsel  of  Baron  de  Hirsch  this  even- 
ing? Yes,  we  are  ready  now  to  admin- 
ister upon  a  portion  of  our  wealth  —  to 
commit  the  office  of  administrator  to 
those  who  have  united  in  a  generous  ef- 
fort for  the  rescue  of  these  victims  of  op- 
pression—  their  elevation  to  the  dignity 
of  citizenship.  Yes,  "we  are  ready  to  re- 
spond to  the  call  for  material  aid  that  the 
good  work  may  proceed.  We  recognize 
our  duty  as  the  Baron  de  Hirsch  states  it, 
"to  contribute  to  the  relief  of  men  hard 
pressed  by  fate.  " 

May  I  venture  to  depart  from  precedent 
and  ask  the  Chairman  to  second  this  prop- 
osition so  that  this  very  evening  we  may 
gladden  the  heart  of  our  guest,  the  Treas- 
urer of  the  Fund  —  and  demonstrate  our 
love  and  respect  for  Baron  de  Hirsch,  the 
benefactor  of  our  race,  by  also  contribut- 


Baron  de  Hirsch  175 

ing,  "  to  the  relief  of  men  hard  pressed  by 
fate?"  And  now  and  here,  as  did  our 
ancestors,  emerging  from  Egyptian  bond- 
age and  comprehending  the  glory  and  re- 
sponsibility of  freedom,  let  us  devote  of 
our  means  to  the  building  of  the  taber- 
nacle of  peace  in  this  land  of  promise  !  As 
in  olden  days,  so  in  the  near  future,  shall 
the  critic  whom  a  hostile  power  has  re- 
tained to  prophesy  the  incapacity  of 
these  Jews  for  citizenship  be  compelled 
to  declare  as  he  gazes  on  the  happy  set- 
tlements of  these  exiles,  "  How  lovely 
are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob  —  thy  tabernacles, 
O  Israel." 


JEWISH  FARMERS1 

WHEN  the  Baron  de  Hirsch  Fund  was 
instituted  by  the  generous  giver  of  a 
lordly  gift  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed,  one 
of  the  paramount  objects  stated  in  the 
deed  was  the  instruction  of  immigrants 
and  their  children  in  improved  methods 
of  farming.  It  was  the  personal  wish  of 
the  founder  that  the  encouragement  of 
agricultural  work  should  take  shape  in 
the  manner  found  best  by  experience. 
It  was  his  firm  belief  that  the  Russian 
and  Roumanian  Jews  would  adapt  them- 
selves to  farming  and  would  succeed  in 
new  countries.  He  cherished  this  belief 
so  profoundly  that  he  expended  a  large 
amount  of  money  and  much  energy  in  de- 
veloping agricultural  settlements  in  the 
Argentine.  The  problem  there  is  difficult 
and  has  not  been  satisfactorily  solved. 

Our  part  in  this  important  trust  is  to 

1  Delivered   at  the  graduating  exercises  of  the  Baron   de 
Hirsch  Agricultural  School,  Woodbine,  N.  J.,  March,  1902. 
176 


Jewish  Farmers  177 

interest  the  children  of  the  Russian  and 
Roumanian  Jews  who  come  to  America, 
so  that  they  may  acquire  a  taste  for  farm- 
ing and  may  become  capable  farmers. 

Graduates  of  this  school  are  given  a 
chance  to  make  a  living  and  a  future  for 
themselves  and  their  families.  There  is 
no  intention  and  no  obligation  on  the  part 
of  the  Fund  to  support  them  or  to  dis- 
pense with  faithful  and  constant  labor  on 
their  part.  Our  duty  toward  them  begins 
and  ends  with  their  preparation  here. 
They  are  entitled  to  no  more.  Nor  does 
the  Fund  exact  from  them  any  return  ex- 
cept fidelity  to  the  lessons  of  industry 
and  self-reliance  taught  here  in  harmony 
with  the  purely  intellectual  and  technical 
course. 

They  have  acquired  here  no  liking  for 
schemes  beyond  the  natural  ambition  of 
an  industrious  farmer  or  gardener  or  ex- 
pert in  dairy  or  other  departments  where 
skill,  patience,  and  fidelity  are  duly  re- 
warded. They  have  not  been  inspired  to 
attempt  the  impossible  —  to  indulge  in  ex- 
travagance or  absurdity  by  way  of  diver- 
sion —  to  undertake  raising  in  New  Jersey 


178  Jewish  Farmers 

crops  which  demand  tropical  soil  and  en- 
vironment—  to  compete  with  syndicates 
having  enormous  advantages  for  gigantic 
enterprises,  facilities  of  transportation,  ex- 
traordinary resources.  They  have  been 
cheered  by  the  prospect  of  an  honest  and  a 
permanent  livelihood  out  of  the  soil.  They 
have  received  adequate  instruction,  theo- 
retical and  practical.  Their  future  is  in 
their  own  hands. 

It  has  been  said  that  Jews  cannot  be 
farmers  —  as  if  a  Jew  were  other  than  a 
man  !  No  more  adaptable  individual  than 
the  Jew  —  no  race  more  readily  affected  by 
environment  than  the  Jewish.  There  are 
seven  hundred  Jews  owning  farms  in  the 
New  England  States  and  they  are  almost 
all  men  who  came  hither  from  Russia, 
and  about  ten  per  cent,  needed  finan- 
cial aid  beyond  that  which  any  bank  or 
capitalist  would  give  as  a  matter  of  course 
to  the  farmer  who  showed  himself  indus- 
trious and  thrifty  and  owned  land,  and  this 
help  we  have  extended.  And  all  over  the 
Union  —  West  and  South,  as  well  as  in 
these  hospitable  Middle  States,  New  Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania,  and  New  York  —  there 


Jewish  Farmers  179 

are  farmers  who  claim  lineage  with  an  an- 
cestry denied  the  right  to  till  the  soil,  to 
own  land,  or  to  exist  as  ambitious  human 
beings. 

Those  who  deny  the  race  capacity  to 
become  farmers  forget  the  lessons  of 
the  Bible.  The  patriarchs  were  farmers 
—  Abraham  a  very  extensive  owner  of 
arable  land ;  Isaac,  the  student,  is  in  our 
favorite  picture  "  meditating  in  the  field." 
He  was  a  man  of  thought  rather  than  of 
action,  but  he  loved  the  country,  and  when 
he  was  blind  and  his  son  Esau  asked  a 
blessing,  the  old  man  enjoyed  the  savor 
of  the  field  characteristic  of  his  son. 

In  the  oriental  story  we  have  the  inter- 
esting sketch  of  Rebecca  at  the  well,  prof- 
fering water  to  Eleazar  and  his  camels, 
and  Rachel  protected  from  the  shepherds 
by  her  faithful  lover,  Jacob,  who,  for  her 
sake,  tended  Laban's  flocks.  This  was 
in  a  grazing  country.  In  Goshen,  where 
the  children  of  Jacob  sojourned  while  Jo- 
seph was  Pharaoh's  chief  counsellor,  there 
was  abundant  grass  for  the  cattle,  and 
these  early  Israelites  were  husbandmen. 

There  are  two  pictures  of  life  in  Bible 


i8o  Jewish  Farmers 

days  we  ought  not  to  forget.  When  Mo- 
ses enacted  the  laws  of  inheritance,  there 
was  one  owner  of  a  great  farm  who  had 
died  "leaving  no  sons  but  only  daugh- 
ters." Well,  the  daughters  of  Zelophehad 
were  allowed  to  own  and  cultivate  the 
land  with  the  like  authority  as  though 
they  were  boys. 

One  of  the  most  enchanting  pictures  of 
country  life  —  the  favorite  inspiration  of 
poets  and  artists  —  is  the  story  of  Ruth 
gleaning  in  the  field  belonging  to  Boaz, 
her  kinsman.  That  was  a  farmer  whom 
all  ages  hold  in  esteem.  He  carried  out 
the  Bible  injunction,  leaving  the  corners 
of  the  field  for  the  widow  and  the  orphan, 
and  his  fidelity  led  to  his  perfect  happi- 
ness, as  the  husband  of  Ruth,  loveliest  of 
women,  dearest  of  daughters,  the  ances- 
tress of  David.  No  wonder  that  the 
Psalmist  justified  his  ancestry  by  his  love 
of  the  country.  In  the  beautiful  psalm 
how  he  thanks  God  : 

"  In  pastures  of  tender  grass 
He  causeth  me  to  lie  down." 

David,  the  shepherd,   the  poet,  is  the 


Jewish  Farmers  181 

hero  of  pastoral  life  as  surely  as  any  cele- 
brated in  Virgil's  verse  or  in  Dryden. 
"  He  changeth  into  rivers  a  wilderness,  and  to 

water-springs  the  parched  ground. 
And  there  he  causeth  to  dwell  the  hungry,  that 

they  may  be  found  an  inhabited  city  ; 
And  they  sow  fields,  and  plant  vineyards,  that 

they  may  yield  the  fruits  of  the  soil ; 
Whoever  is  wise,  let  him  observe  these  things, 
and  let  all  understand  the  kindness  of  the  Lord." 

Nor  should  we  overlook  two  institu- 
tions of  the  Mosaic  system :  the  festival 
of  the  first  fruits  and  of  the  harvest  — 
Pentecost  and  Tabernacles  —  the  latter 
dignified  as  the  Jewish  holiday  observed 
in  the  captivity.  Disraeli  wrote  sympa- 
thetically of  the  Jews  of  Damascus  who 
continue  to  hold  the  Feast  of  Taberna- 
cles, their  booths  erected  upon  the  house- 
tops —  a  harvest  home  for  a  people  who 
had  no  country. 

Certainly  the  ages  have  dealt  very  se- 
verely with  the  pastoral  people.  And  the 
return  to  flocks  and  herds,  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil,  vineyards,  and  the  "  land  over- 
flowing with  milk  and  honey,"  is  not  an 
easy  transition.  Centuries  ago,  the  swords 
were  beaten  into  pruning  hooks  and  there 


1 82  Jewish  Farmers 

was  to  be  no  war.  But  there  has  never 
been  peace  for  Israel,  and  now  the  hospi- 
tality of  an  American  State  invites  these 
descendants  of  Boaz  to  resume  their  an- 
cient vocation.  And  was  Pope  prophetic 
when  he  said : 

"  Haste  to  yonder  woodbine  bower, 
The  turf  with  rural  dainties  shall  be  crowned, 
While  opening  blooms  diffuse  their  sweets  around." 

Our  agricultural  school  opens  wide  its 
doors  that  all  may  partake  of  the  boon  con- 
ferred by  Maurice  and  Clara  de  Hirsch. 
Come  all  ye  that  are  thirsty  for  know- 
ledge, come  hither  and  drink  of  the  pure 
water  of  life.  And  you  who  graduate  to- 
day, take  with  you  grateful  memories  of 
what  you  have  learned  here,  and  apply 
yourselves  to  your  work  in  the  world  with 
all  your  heart,  all  your  soul,  all  your  might. 
Whatever  you  do,  do  it  with  resolution  to 
be  good  Jews,  upright  men,  citizens  true 
to  the  Republic  which  knows  no  distinc- 
tion of  sect  or  race,  which  sets  mankind 
an  example  of  liberty  without  license,  a 
fair  field  in  which  the  humblest  can  aspire 
to  the  highest  condition  and  attain  it. 

The  founders  of  the  Republic  left  their 


Jewish  Farmers  183 

farms  to  fight  for  liberty.  Washington 
and  his  neighbors,  like  Cincinnatus,  re- 
turned to  their  ploughs  when  the  bugle 
no  longer  called  them  to  battle.  After  Ap- 
pomattox,  the  horses  that  carried  the  war- 
riors to  the  bloody  fields  of  Virginia,  were 
given  by  the  victor  to  the  vanquished,  that 
they  might  return  to  the  farms  and  serve 
in  gladness  for  the  recovery  of  fortunes 
lost. 

We  have  offered  you  the  chance  to 
which,  as  faithful  in  labor  and  study,  you 
are  entitled.  The  rest  depends  on  your- 
selves. 


M.  LEROY  BEAULIEU.1 

WE  are  gratified  to  have  an  opportunity 
of  extending  to  our  distinguished  guest  a 
cordial  welcome,  this  not  only  because  of 
his  reputation  as  a  scholar  and  a  publicist, 
but  also  because  he  has  been  just  to  the 
Jewish  race  and  religion. 

He  has  gathered  with  industry  and 
analyzed  with  consummate  skill  the  facts 
upon  which  the  prejudices  of  centuries  are 
based,  prejudices  which  have  excused  in- 
cessant hate  and  persecution  of  the  Jewish 
rate,  which  persuade  the  Russian  govern- 
ment that  patriotism  and  statesmanship 
demand  the  concentration  of  Jews  within 
confines  and  amid  surroundings  dangerous 
to  liberty,  property,  and  life,  which  have 
led  Roumania  to  exult  in  her  defiance  of 
treaties  and  of  the  united  public  opinion 
of  mankind. 

To  recount  the  studies  and  the  argu- 
ments of  our  guest  in  support  of  a  just 

1  Delivered  before  the  Judeans,  May  15,  1904. 
184 


M.  Leroy  Beaulieu          185 

cause  so  dear  to  us,  so  important  to  civili- 
zation, is  not  my  purpose.  I  shall  content 
myself  with  observations  upon  a  theory 
which  may  have  been  already  propounded  ; 
but  the  application  I  desire  to  offer  is 
based  upon  conditions  in  America,  where 
Anti-Semitism  does  not  exist. 

There  has  arisen  in  the  United  States 
an  ungenerous  sentiment — a  social  anti- 
pathy— for  which  no  substantial  or  ade- 
quate cause  can  be  suggested.  It  did  not 
prevail  a  generation  ago.  It  is  emotional 
— a  matter  of  social  feeling,  as  inexplicable 
as  many  a  decree  of  fashion.  It  is  not 
powerful  enough  to  affect  the  position  of 
Jews  in  the  activities  of  life ;  it  merely 
makes  sensitive  people  uncomfortable — it 
is  a  grievous  disappointment  to  be  sin- 
gled out  as  the  special  object  of  remark, 
as  meriting  exclusion  from  a  club  one 
would  like  to  join  because  of  scholarly 
associations. 

The  barrier  is  social :  it  cannot  disturb 
the  civil  rights,  the  political  equality,  of  all 
Americans.  Starting  with  the  Children 
attending  church  and  Sunday-school,  the 
dislike  is  fostered  by  secret  societies  in 


1 86  M.  Leroy  Beaulieu 

institutions  of  learning,  and  is  accentu- 
ated by  the  rivalry  of  the  newly  rich  of 
American  origin  as  against  the  newly  rich 
of  foreign  birth.  But  will  not  such  bar- 
riers disappear  before  the  sunshine  of  the 
bright  day  which  discloses  high  ideals 
attained  by  some  men  and  women  of  the 
Jewish  race,  and  admired  by  all  men  and 
women  of  the  Jewish  race  ?  Will  they 
not  disappear  as  it  is  made  clear  that  ma- 
terial success  alone  is  not  the  goal  to 
which  Jews  aspire  ?  They  will  disappear, 
as  Jews — thoughtful,  patriotic,  brilliant, 
brave  —  think  with  effect,  write  with 
power,  discover  and  publish  truths  use- 
ful and  grateful  to  mankind,  proclaim 
far  and  wide  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
They  disappear  as  the  world  honors  the 
benefactor  of  humanity  who  declares 
that  "  he  holds  his  wealth  in  trust  for 
those  oppressed  by  fate."  They  disap- 
pear before  the  lofty  resolution  which 
inspired  and  impelled  the  Jews  of  the 
United  States,  who  had  in  1881  a  position 
of  respect  and  equality,  socially  as  well  as 
financially,  commercially,  and  politically, 
to  hazard  all  in  their  superiority  to  ma- 


M.  Leroy  Beaulieu  187 

terialism,  as  they  extended  a  helping  hand 
to  "kin  beyond  the  sea,"  "exiles  for 
conscience'  sake." 

The  barriers  disappear  as  Jewish  or- 
ganizations, charitable  and  educational, 
display  originality,  persistence,  and  gen- 
erosity in  maintaining  a  high  standard. 
Institutions  like  the  Educational  Alliance 
and  the  Trade  School  were  formed  to 
educate,  elevate,  and  Americanize  the 
new-comers  who  arrived  in  great  num- 
bers, differing,  in  language,  dress,  man- 
ners, ideas,  methods,  and  habits,  from  the 
people  among  whom  they  were  to  dwell. 
They  aspire  to  citizenship,  are  progressing, 
and  begin  to  assimilate.  Centuries  of 
liberty  attained  in  America  are  impressed 
upon  these  heirs  of  ages  of  despotism  en- 
dured in  Russia.  How  hopeless  was  their 
condition  as  they  reached  our  shores  until 
they  were  cheered  by  the  sight  of  Lib- 
erty Enlightening  the  World — the  statue 
placed  in  our  harbor  by  France — a  souve- 
nir of  ancient  friendship  and  admiration, 
recalling  Washington  and  Lafayette,  com- 
rades, heroes,  typical  sons  of  the  great 
nations. 


1 88          M.  Leroy  Beaulieu 

When  the  blood  of  the  Russian  Jews 
cried  from  the  ground,  we  did  not  turn 
away  coldly,  saying,  "  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?  "  We  strove  to  animate  and  re- 
store to  hope  and  home  the  most  unfor- 
tunate of  mankind.  From  the  President 
to  the  humblest  citizen  of  the  Union,  there 
was  a  generous  note  of  sympathy  as  the 
story  of  Kishineff  went  round  the  world. 

The  barriers  will  wholly  disappear  in 
time,  and  it  depends  upon  the  American 
Jews  to  hasten  the  coming  of  that  day. 
Where  Anti-Semitism  had  reared  its  gor- 
gon  head,  commercialism  and  bigotry  had 
been  supreme.  Let  the  Jews  of  this  land 
perform  their  duty  to  their  fellow-believers 
and  to  the  Republic,  let  them  be  steadfast 
in  their  faith,  and  their  neighbors  will 
appreciate  the  spirit  which  has  elevated 
the  ideal  above  the  material,  constituting 
the  love  of  one's  fellow-men  the  most  po- 
tent influence,  outweighing  all  care  for 
gain,  all  fear  for  censure. 

Our  honored  guest  has  the  thanks  of 
American  Jews  for  helping  to  expose  and 
to  conquer  Anti-Semitism.  Manifested  so 
terribly  in  Russia  and  Roumania,  when  it 


M.  Leroy  Beaulieu          189 

dared  to  rise  to  the  surface  in  France, 
Germany,  and  Austria,  it  incurred  the 
contempt  and  condemnation  of  the  best 
minds.  Causing  needless  and  intense  sor- 
row and  suffering,  it  has  no  excuse  for 
existence  anywhere,  will  be  stamped  out 
as  a  plague,  and  is  destined  soon  to  dis- 
appear forever. 


THOUGHTS  FOR  THE  TIME1 

I 

THE  OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE   JEW 

THE  Jew  is  not  content  forever  to  fol- 
low in  the  wake  of  others.  He  aspires 
to  leadership.  An  opportunity  to  forge 
ahead  is  now  open  to  him,  and  to  make 
the  world,  and  especially  America,  his 
eternal  debtor. 

For  fifty  years  the  representative 
American  Jew  of  the  day  has  devoted 
himself  with  considerable  zeal  and  ability 
to  the  acquirement  of  wealth.  His  nat- 
ural thriftiness,  and  all  the  powerful 
influences  around  him  urged  him  in  that 
pursuit.  Originally  one,  and  not  the  most 
important,  of  many  ambitions,  it  rap- 
idly gained  a  commanding  place.  Many 
Jews  have  to-day  acquired  a  considerable 
competency,  and  a  few  have  attained  to 
great  wealth. 

1  From  The  Jewish  Messenger. 
190 


Thoughts  for  the  Time         191 

They  have  given  this  ambition  full 
scope,  and  have  realized  to  a  consider- 
able extent  its  possibilities,  and  are  now 
in  a  position  to  know  what  it  has  yielded 
them. 

Some  it  has  intoxicated,  and  they  are 
hopeless  money  inebriates.  With  these 
we  have  not  here  to  deal.  But  to  the 
sober,  self-respecting,  self-restraining  Jew 
with  wealth  the  question  must  inevitably 
present  itself,  "Has  it  brought  what  it 
promised?"  "Am  I  satisfied  with  the 
result  ?  " 

Has  it  brought  social  entree  where 
most  desired,  affection  true  and  unselfish 
where  most  needed?  Has  it  sweetened 
domestic  life,  brought  purity,  morality,  and 
refinement  into  the  home?  Has  it  in- 
vested sons  and  daughters  with  strength 
for  the  battle  of  life  ;  power  to  resist 
temptation  and  sterling  capacity  to  hold 
their  own  and  turn  their  way  howsoever 
circumstanced  ?  Has  it  been  able  to  ban- 
ish gloom  and  misery;  or,  if  not,  when 
sorrow  came  has  it  supplied  the  staying 
forces  to  meet  it  firmly  and  to  survive  it 
nobly,  with  greater  strength  as  a  result 


192       Thoughts  for  the  Time 

of  the  strain  ?  If  it  has  not  done,  or  can- 
not do  these  things,  certainly  its  power  has 
marked  limitations.  These  are,  of  the 
realities  of  life,  the  most  precious,  and  no 
reasonable  being  would  sacrifice  them  to 
attain  other  less  important  results. 

What  a  superb  figure  the  Jew  will  be 
if,  with  his  shrewdness  and  sagacity,  he 
places  principle  above  interest ;  the  pure 
life,  unwavering  integrity,  wisdom,  truth, 
honor,  and  the  spiritual  life  above  mate- 
rial possessions.  He  is  no  mere  dreamer, 
no  speculative  idealist ;  he  knows  the  re- 
alities of  life,  and  knowing  them  places 
the  true  estimate  upon  their  respective 
values.  Such  an  example,  brilliantly  dis- 
played, would  have  an  enormous  influ- 
ence for  good.  It  would  make  the  name 
of  Jew  synonymous  with  the  noblest  man- 
hood and  purest,  fairest  womanhood.  It 
would  save  the  Jew,  and  none  the  less  the 
nation.  He  is  the  best  equipped  for  such 
a  r6le.  His  religion,  his  heritage,  his 
optimism,  his  destiny,  all  most  forcibly 
invite  to  such  a  course.  Not  all  can  have 
the  sturdiness,  the  self-reliance,  and  the 
initiative  to  enter  upon  this  high  engage- 


Thoughts  for  the  Time        193 

ment,  but  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  Jew- 
ish people,  the  remnant  untainted  and 
uncorrupted,  have  still  the  energy  that 
can  make  it  possible.  It  is  the  Jew's 
great  opportunity.  Will  he  embrace  it  ? 


II 

THE    JEWISH    LIFE 

FEW  can  deny  the  general  advancement 
in  American  Judaism,  judged  by  the  ma- 
terial development  that  marks  a  growing 
and  prosperous  denomination.  And  yet 
one  cannot  disguise  an  uneasy  feeling  at 
the  laziness  that  prevails  respecting  the 
requirements  of  our  faith. 

If  conservatives  have  been  unduly  rigid 
in  their  demands  and  exactions  in  an  age 
when  self-sacrifice  is  out  of  fashion,  surely 
our  radicals  have  gone  to  the  other  ex- 
treme and  are  in  danger  of  making  Juda- 
ism ethical  sentimentalism,  a  flabby  and 
nerveless  string  of  phrases  which  we  must 
listen  to  in  the  pulpit  and  press. 

Surely,  Jewish  life  is  no  misnomer. 
Has  progress  ended  with  synagogue 
transformations  ?  These  prove  nothing. 
These  mean  little.  These  have  but  scant 
moral  power.  We  are  old-fashioned 
194 


Thoughts  for  the  Time       i95 

enough  to  believe  that  the  Hebrew's 
faith  is  clear  and  distinct  enough  in  its 
conceptions  of  home  duties  as  well  as  of 
temple  service. 

The  religious  aspect  of  that  Jewish  life 
we  need  not  glance  at — this  concerns  the 
individual  Jew  in  his  private  and  personal 
relations.  But  the  social  and  public  point 
of  view  is  not  to  be  neglected.  That  we 
number  dishonest  as  well  as  irreligious 
men  among  us,  is  not  a  fact  true  of  the 
Hebrews  alone.  But  with  us  more  than 
with  any  other  class,  the  reputation  of 
the  individual  affects  the  entire  body. 
The  Jew  of  commanding  personal  char- 
acter unconsciously  elevates  us  ;  the  dis- 
honest, tricky  scamp,  the  mean,  coarse 
fellows,  born  Jews,  reflect  discredit  upon 
us. 

It  should  be  the  aim  and  purpose  of 
every  Israelite  to  ennoble  and  dignify  his 
character  by  a  consistent  life  of  upright- 
ness and  integrity,  and  to  discountenance 
every  Jew,  no  matter  how  wealthy  or 
prominent,  who  defiantly  lives  at  variance 
with  the  law  of  truth  in  its  broadest 
meaning.  We  have  no  right  to  object  to 


196       Thoughts  for  the  Time 

our  neighbor's  ignorance  of  the  true  Jew 
and  acceptance  of  its  miserable  counter- 
feit, if  we  cringe  before  our  dishonest 
brother  because  he  has  money  and  posi- 
tion, and  give  him  a  high  seat  in  the 
synagogue  instead  of  spurning  his  bribes 
and  shunning  his  favor — if  he  refuses  to 
amend. 

Jewish  life  to-day  means  the  life  of  an 
upright,  loyal  citizen.  It  signifies  a  con- 
sistent adherence  to  the  law  of  God,  a 
courageous  belief  in  the  future  of  Israel, 
and  a  conscientious  devotion  to  duty  as 
a  citizen  of  the  world.  Jewish  life,  apart 
from  the  rites  of  family  worship,  signifies 
nothing  that  clashes  with  the  State. 

We  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of 
our  household  gods.  There  are  Virtue 
and  Love  to  preside  over  our  homes ; 
there  are  the  imperishable  records  of  the 
devotion  and  martyrdom  of  our  heroic 
sires  to  preserve  and  reverence  ;  there  are 
the  glorious  histories  of  the  women  of 
Israel  to  arouse  our  affection  and  admira- 
tion. The  Jewish  home  is  the  child's 
object-lesson  in  Judaism. 

The  peculiar  purity  and  sanctity  of  the 


Thoughts  for  the  Time        i97 

Jewish  household,  indicated  by  the  virtue 
and  uprightness  of  the  family  circle,  as 
well  as  by  the  simple  prayer,  the  lovely 
rite,  with  their  holy  reminiscences  of  the 
dear  ones  gone  from  our  side,  so  far  from 
being  at  variance  with  the  world,  con- 
tribute to  the  universal  good  and  happi- 
ness. The  State  is  protected  by  pious 
homes  and  righteous  lives.  The  Israel- 
ite at  home  and  in  the  synagogue  is 
an  American  in  society,  in  commerce,  in 
the  professions.  Discouraging  pseudo- 
religious  movements,  which  would  re- 
duce the  Jew  to  the  status  of  a  gypsy, 
and  arouse  ridicule  against  Israel  as  a  re- 
ligious community,  he  should  discoun- 
tenance and  avoid  clannishness  and 
exclusiveness — a  Judaism  of  isolation  and 
desolation. 

Jewish  life  assumes  and  presents  its 
highest  and  holiest  aspects  when  it  sig- 
nifies the  perfect  Israelite  in  the  house  of 
God  and  in  the  family  temple — home ; 
and  the  faithful,  upright  citizen  above  and 
beyond  sectarianism  and  narrowness  and 
eager  to  work  in  all  good  causes  for  the 
betterment  of  mankind. 


Ill 

THE  REPUBLIC'S  IDEAL 

IN  our  age  of  rapid  achievement  and 
unceasing  activity,  it  is  healthful  for  the 
Republic  that  there  are  a  few  pause-days 
each  year  which  enforce  sober  reflection. 
That  these  national  holidays  are  receiv- 
ing more  thoughtful  observance  is  a  hope- 
ful sign  of  the  times. 

In  to-day's  celebration,  one  may  par- 
don for  the  young  people's  sake  its  atmos- 
phere of  fireworks — although  many  cities 
are  curbing  the  youngsters  and  insist 
upon  quieter  and  safer  merry-making — if 
its  plain,  sober  meaning  be  not  wholly 
lost  sight  of,  and  the  American  Republic 
learn  anew  its  olden  lessons. 

The  impulse  to  freedom  is  humanity's 
bird-song,  whose  strains  have  been  heard 
in  all  ages  and  climes.  But  the  struggle 
in  1776  was  original  in  the  men  who 
united  in  the  Declaration,  in  the  age  which 


Thoughts  for  the  Time        199 

witnessed  the  conflict,  and  in  the  influence 
it  has  wielded  to  our  time. 

The  men  were  united  by  a  community 
of  interest,  it  is  true,  which  gave  point  to 
Franklin's  jest,  that  "  if  they  did  not  hang 
together,  they  would  hang  separately." 
But  that  phrase  was  no  mask  for  selfish 
enrichment.  They  were  not  greedy  pro- 
moters under  the  cloak  of  high-minded 
patriotism.  They  sought  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness — that  was  their 
ideal — a  freeman's  life,  liberty  under  the 
law,  and  the  happiness  of  following  their 
own  convictions.  They  had  the  prophet's 
insight,  the  statesman's  courage,  the  sol- 
dier's heroism.  And  that  is  why  they 
conquered. 

Nor  was  the  age  less  remarkable. 
Providentially,  for  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  England  had  been  preparing  the 
colonists  for  independence.  Roundhead 
and  Cavalier,  Protestant,  Catholic,  Jew, 
and  Dissenter,  all  were  being  sent  to  a 
new  school.  The  virginal  forest  taught 
them  freedom — their  first  clearing  made 
them  lose  traditional  shackles.  In  the 
shadow  of  the  hills  they  saw  a  vision  of 


200       Thoughts  for  the  Time 

a  loftier  humanity  than  a  series  of  Euro- 
pean courts  and  usages.  When  England, 
then,  strove  to  use  them  as  vassals,  the 
bird-song  of  liberty  could  not  be  re- 
pressed, and  they  fought  for  civil  and 
religious  freedom. 

The  influence  of  the  struggle  is  never- 
ceasing.  But  beyond  its  visible  results, 
about  which  whole  libraries  are  written, 
the  invisible  is  apt  to  be  disregarded. 
When  the  two  commissioners  appointed 
by  Congress  some  years  ago  visited  Rus- 
sia to  investigate  the  emigration  problem, 
they  tell  how  they  came  to  a  town,  and 
when  the  rabbi,  surrounded  by  his  poverty- 
stricken  people,  saw  them  he  exclaimed  : 
"  Are  you  Americans  ?  Do  you  come 
from  that  promised  land  ?  "  The  Ameri- 
can ideal  had  penetrated  darkest  Russia — 
it  was  a  promised  land  where  all  could 
enjoy  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness. 

That  was  a  wondrous  spectacle  a  few 
days  ago  in  London,  when  Mohammedan, 
Buddhist,  Fire-worshipper,  Brahmin,  Ca- 
nadian, Indian,  Protestant,  Catholic,  and 
Jew  offered  prayers  for  their  monarch's 


Thoughts  for  the  Time        201 

recovery.  But  still  more  sublime  is  the 
spectacle  which  our  Republic  makes  pos- 
sible— eighty  millions  of  people  of  dif- 
ferent creeds  and  none,  in  one  land,  and 
under  one  banner,  following  quietly  and 
resolutely  the  Republic's  ideal  of  life,  lib- 
erty, and  happiness  for  all.  There  may 
be  harassing  problems  to  solve — there  are 
serious  obstacles  to  be  faced  and  sur- 
mounted. But  that  is  no  reason  to  de- 
spair of  the  Republic,  which  shall  grow 
from  strength  to  strength  so  long  as  it 
holds  fast  to  the  ideal  enshrined  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 


THE    END 


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